85% of Catalans surveyed are regular users of low-cost airlines
EAE Business School has published its report “Aviation and Sustainability”, based on a survey of 1,000 people aged over 25 across Spain. The results reveal that 85% of the Catalans people surveyed describe themselves as regular users of low-cost airlines. In Spain as a whole, the figure is slightly lower, at 74%. When asked the last low-cost company that they flew with, Catalans mainly responded Vueling (62.3%) and, a long way behind in second place, Ryanair (26.9%).
“This may explain the expansion that low-cost airlines have had on routes that were almost exclusively flown by legacy companies, or the fact that they have established their main base in big airports such as Vueling in Barcelona, a company that segments its air fares and services taking business travellers into account”, explained Romà Andreu, the author of the report and lecturer at EAE Business School.
Moreover, regardless of the kind of airline, 49.1% of Catalans travel by aeroplane once a year, while 38.92% do so four times. 82% usually fly for holidays.
AVIATION SECTOR ANFD SUSTAINABILITY
Most Catalans (89%) are concerned about climate change, while 82.04% of all the people surveyed in Catalonia express concern about emissions from air travel. Moreover, 49.7% are willing to pay extra to travel in more sustainable aeroplanes, compared to 34.73% who are not prepared to pay any more. It is worth noting that 15% answer that they are unaware of their role in this matter, selecting the “I don’t know” option.
49% of the people surveyed in Catalonia are willing to pay extra to use sustainable aeroplanes, 50.60% of whom would pay up to 10% more and 48.19% who are prepared to pay up to 30% extra.
However, 55.69% of those surveyed are not replacing flights for other modes of transport. 35.93% of those who do look for more sustainable alternatives choose the train (70%) and 50% opt for a private car. “We can conclude that there is a real motivation among citizens of both sexes to fight for environmental sustainability, but they do not take all the individual measures required to make this a full reality. Economic factors and the low-cost movement itself do not help”, concluded Andreu.
