01763750

Component

https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981211046924

This study explores the potential to promote lower-emissions air travel by providing consumers with information about the carbon emissions of alternative flight choices in the context of online flight search and booking. We surveyed over 450 employees of the University of California, Davis, asking them to choose among hypothetical flight options for university-related business trips. Emissions estimates for flight alternatives were prominently displayed alongside cost, layovers, and airport, and the lowest-emissions flight was labeled “Greenest Flight.” We found an impressive rate of willingness to pay for lower-emissions flights: around $200/ton of CO2e saved, a magnitude higher than that seen in carbon offsets programs, and consistent with findings from a prior study with a non-university-based sample. In a second step of analysis, we estimated the carbon and cost impacts if the university were to adopt a flight-search interface that prioritizes carbon emissions information and displays alternatives from multiple regional airports in their employee travel-booking portal. We estimated potential annual savings of 79 tons of CO2e, while reducing airfare costs by $56,000, mainly through an increased willingness of travelers to take advantage of cheaper nonstop (lower-emissions) flights from a more distant airport in the region over indirect flights from their preferred airport for medium-distance flights. Institutionalizing this strategy within organizations with large travel budgets could reduce personal and organizational carbon footprints. If implemented across major flight-search engines, it could potentially reduce the demand for higher-emissions flights, leading to an industry-wide impact on aviation emissions.

Angela Sanguinetti https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9008-7175 © National Academy of Sciences: Transportation Research Board 2021.

TRBAM-21-03810

English

0000-0002-9008-7175

0000-0002-4441-2328

pp 788-799

2022-2

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

Digital/other

Figures; References (19) ; Tables

Air travel; Carbon dioxide; Computer online services; Consumer behavior; Costs; Pollutants; Reservation systems; Sustainable transportation

University of California, Davis

Aviation; Economics; Environment; Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 23 2020 11:10AM