Aviation technology leader SITA has published its Passenger Insights Report 2023. It shows the results of a comprehensive passenger survey conducted at the beginning of the year. The insights from this survey suggest key focus areas for passenger experience investment for airlines and airports.
This series’ fourth and final article delves into passenger sentiment on airline sustainability. What sustainability information do passengers value most?
The Importance of Sustainability to Passengers in 2023
Airport Sustainability Initiatives Favored by Passengers
Passengers’ top three sustainability preferences have stayed consistent since 2022. From an airport perspective, these include:
- Leveraging technology to enhance airport sustainability (62%)
- Investing in additional infrastructure (53%)
- Providing water refilling stations and free access (48%)
It is important to note that all three initiatives have gained more support from passengers than the previous year, with increases of 13%, 8%, and 6% respectively. This underlines the growing demand from passengers for airports to prioritize sustainability. That is, mainly through technology improvements, not carbon offsets.
Passenger Interest in Airlines’ Sustainability Efforts
Like their views on airport initiatives, passengers have demonstrated a strong interest in airlines employing technology to enhance sustainability efforts. 64% of passengers advocate for this approach, a substantial increase from 52% in 2022.
Moreover, alongside this increased support for sustainable technology, passengers underscore the importance of education. Approximately half of the respondents wanted airlines to inform passengers about the environmental consequences of travel and the steps the industry is taking to lessen environmental impact.
In an encouraging trend, over half of passengers now believe that the air transport industry is making sufficient strides towards achieving sustainability objectives. That’s a rise of 5% from the last year.
Passengers want to be informed on sustainability and believe the aviation industry is taking action.
The SITA Report reveals that nearly three of every five passengers want to understand sustainable aviation fuels. They also want to know about other initiatives to curb the environmental footprint of air travel.
Not far behind, an impressive 53% of passengers want insights into aviation industry efforts to mitigate environmental degradation. Concurrently, 52% of the cohort wants to understand the climate implications of their travel.
This mirrors the insights from the previous year’s survey. Passengers want to understand strategies for tackling carbon emissions. They prefer this over other information like general sustainability certifications or emissions data.