Environmental information for aviation passengers

Abstract

Purpose – Review of tools that inform passengers about the environmental impact of their flight. Review of tools that allow passengers to compare flying with other means of transportation. Improve already existing tools and develop new ways to determine the environmental impact of passenger transport. --- Methodology – Continue work previously done on the ecolabel for aircraft. Study how the scientific community, governmental institutions, passengers, and the general public think about the environmental impact of aviation. Perform a survey that shows how airlines are perceived with respect to their environmental action and how environmental information should be presented to passengers. --- Findings – The majority of people are willing to make changes in their travelling behavior in order to make it more environmentally friendly. Taxes or even restrictions would be accepted if fairness and transparency were felt. Passengers would like to be informed with an ecolabel for aircraft. Offsetting carbon emissions would be accepted, if the scheme is explained in detail. The bad reputation of airlines after years of not taking any measures for reducing their absolute environmental impact has made people skeptical about any airline initiative. In the corona pandemic it became apparent that airline associations were never in favor of reducing the number of flights. --- Practical Implications – Methods for airline passenger to compare their travel emissions are proposed. --- Social Implications – If passengers are able to compare travel options in terms of environmental impact, it will open up a new type of competition among airlines. --- Originality – It is the first time that tools are collected and compared to allow airline passengers making an educated choice about their way of travelling regarding its environmental impact.