Relationships between Airline Sustainability and Consumer Behaviour: An assessment of the influence of environmental awareness on the decision-making process of European airline customers

Abstract

The aviation industry increasingly contributes to the global share of carbon emissions and therefore also to increasing global average temperatures. Although forecasts for growing emissions and solutions to decrease CO2 by aircraft usage are well described in the extant literature, the debate has failed to address how aviation passengers feel influenced in their choice as consumers. The study investigates possible relationships between civil aviation environmental sustainability, passenger environmental awareness and consumer behaviour. We use the European airline industry as a geographical focus of the study. Five hypotheses are developed related to (i) environmental awareness by airline passengers, (ii) the influence of sustainability on ticket booking behaviour, (iii) the influence of Sustainable Aviation Fuel and carbon offsetting on consumer behaviour and (iv) the influence of environmental awareness on airline image and customer satisfaction. To test the hypotheses, a survey method is used to gather data from airline passengers. The results show that environmental awareness is indeed increasing among airline passengers and as such has an influence on consumer behaviour. Our data indicates that the image of the sector is declining due to a perceived lack of urgency by the airlines. At the same time consumers are willing to pay higher ticket prices is airlines invest into sustainability. However, it is found that, although environmental awareness and concern are growing amongst aviation consumers, price is yet the most important factor that influences ticket booking behaviour and passenger satisfaction.