“Acceptability of Green Innovations in the Aviation Sector: Insights from a French Study”

© Vincent / Aerobuzz.fr

Once again, the Pégase Chair sets the record straight. This time, researchers from the University of Montpellier probed ” the acceptability of green innovations in the aviation sector ».

« Although 79% of French people say they are concerned about the environment in general, the importance given to environmental issues in the airline industry seems to be less. Thus, even if a significant proportion of respondents try to fly less (41%) and the environmental criterion is important to them (36%), only 12% say they feel ashamed when they fly. sums up the Pégase Chair. This should be compared to the failure of airlines to encourage their customers to add a few euros to the ticket price to offset the CO2 emissions generated by their journey.

Researchers from the University of Montpellier questioned a sample of 1,000 people representative of the French population. Two lessons emerge. The first is that the French are not yet ready to give up traveling. Certainly 41% “ try to fly less. But, how many do they succeed? The spectacular restart of low cost at the end of the pandemic provides the beginning of an answer. The return of traffic to its pre-crisis levels, despite a substantial price increase of around 15 to 20%, provides an additional element of response. As for the 12% whose shame to take the plane is less strong than their desire or their need, they close the debate.

The first lesson is therefore that the Flight Shame has little impact on air travel. The Pegasus Chair had already documented this. The second is that the industry needs to review its communication.

« The study also reveals that the innovations on which air transport relies to reduce its environmental footprint are relatively unknown, since barely more than a third of French people (35% on average) had heard of them before this study. » 50% of respondents had already heard of hydrogen. It is the most “known”. Airbus did what was necessary to put it forward. She apparently eclipsed the others.

Note that sustainable aviation fuels are not really popular. However, in the eyes of companies, they appear to be the short-term solution while waiting for something better. The Pégase Chair invites air transport players to make an effort to educate and inform passengers, ” in order to improve the acceptability of these technologies and accelerate the ecological transition of the aviation sector. »

The costs of these green innovation » as the Pégase Chair calls them, should be reflected in the price of the ticket. It seems inevitable. The study shows ” that only 56.5% of French people are ready to pay a supplement to travel with an airline that uses green technologies, and that on average, they are ready to pay 15.6% more for their ticket. On this point, the French are in agreement. Ticket prices have increased by more than 15% due to inflation and the French continue to fly. We’ll talk about it again when the companies start passing on the green surplus.