Reducing personal air-travel: Restrictions, options and the role of justifications

Ralph Hansmann,Claudia R Binder

doi:10.1016/j.trd.2021.102859

Ralph Hansmann, Claudia R Binder

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2021.102859

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Abstract

Abstract An integrative environmental behavior model was applied in an online survey to investigate the determinants of intentions to reduce personal air travel and corresponding perceived restrictions and options among participants in Switzerland (N = 1206). Flying habits emerged as the most powerful predictor of air travel intentions, followed by prescriptive social norms, general environmental attitudes, flight-specific personal norms, and acceptance of general justifications for environmentally negative behavior. The overall model achieved substantial explanative power (multiple R = 0.75). Availability of alternative means of transportation was most frequently mentioned as requirement for reducing personal flights, and participants proposed replacing physical business meetings with online formats. Trains were often proposed as alternative transportation mode; however, concerns regarding travel duration and price constrain their use. Faster connections, attractive pricing, and measures facilitating the enjoyment of lengthier travel times could help reduce the number of flights and contribute toward deceleration of life.

Highlights

An integrative environmental behavior model was applied in an online survey to investigate the determinants of intentions to reduce personal air travel and corresponding perceived restrictions and options among participants in Switzerland (N = 1206)
Global air traffic has substantially increased over the last decades, and further growth has been predicted for the coming years (Federal Aviation Administration, 2016; Yang et al, 2018)
We investigated in which situations and/or under what circumstances avoiding flights seemed feasible for the study participants, which we deemed crucial for developing concrete recommendations for transformative measures and approaches including psychological, societal, and communicative as well as technological, infrastructure and man agement interventions

Summary

Introduction

Global air traffic has substantially increased over the last decades, and further growth has been predicted for the coming years (Federal Aviation Administration, 2016; Yang et al, 2018). These surges have contributed to increasing emissions of green-house gases that contribute to global warming (Hepting et al, 2020; Lu and Shon, 2012; Lu and Wang, 2018). Current models predict that the global economic recovery following the corona crisis will trigger a massive increase in air traffic volume (Chen et al, 2020). Apart from global warming impacts, increasing air traffic volumes has additional negative environmental impacts. Flight-related noise emissions can cause stress, sleeping disorders, and depression and thereby threaten the health of millions of persons by reducing well-being and quality of life (Basner (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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