Opportunities for industry leaders as new travelers take to the skies.
Travel fell sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic—airline revenues dropped by 60 percent in 2020, and air travel and tourism are not expected to return to 2019 levels before 2024.
While this downturn is worrisome, it is likely to be temporary. McKinsey’s latest survey of more than 5,500 air travelers around the world shows that the aviation industry faces an even bigger challenge: sustainability.
The survey results indicate emerging trends in passenger priorities:
- Most passengers understand that aviation has a significant impact on the environment. Emissions are now the top concern of respondents in 11 of the 13 countries polled, up from four in the 2019 survey.
More than half of respondents said they’re “really worried” about climate change, and that aviation should become carbon neutral in the future.
- Travelers continue to prioritize price and connections over sustainability in booking decisions, for now. This may be partly because no airline has built a business system or brand promise on sustainability. Also, some consumers may currently be less concerned about their own impact because they’re flying less frequently in the pandemic.
That said, almost 40 percent of travelers globally are now willing to pay at least two percent more for carbon-neutral tickets, or about $20 for a $1,000 round-trip, and 36 percent plan to fly less to reduce their climate impact.
- Attitudes and preferences vary widely among countries and customer segments. Around 60 percent of travelers in Spain are willing to pay more for carbon-neutral flights, for example, compared to nine percent in India and two percent in Japan.
This article outlines steps that airlines, airports, and their suppliers could take to respond to changing attitudes and preferences.
The survey findings suggest that airlines may need to begin with gaining a deeper understanding of changes across heterogenous customer segments and geographies.
With those insights in hand, they could tailor their communications, products, and services to differentiate their brands, build awareness among each passenger segment, and better connect with customers.
Finding 1: Most travelers now have concerns about climate change and carbon emissions—and many are prepared to act on these concerns
Finding 2: Price and connections still matter much more than emissions to most travelers
Finding 3: Attitudes vary widely by demographics and geography
Read the full story here
Mishal Ahmad is a manager in McKinsey’s New Jersey office, Frederik Franz is a senior associate in the Berlin office, Tomas Nauclér is a senior partner the Stockholm office, and Daniel Riefer is an associate partner in the Munich office.
The authors would like to thank Joost Krämer for his contributions to this article.
