IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaitra/v44-45y2015ip82-89.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Eco-positioning of airlines: Perception versus actual performance

Author

Listed:
  • Mayer, Robert
  • Ryley, Tim
  • Gillingwater, David

Abstract

To date there has been little research in air transport into the eco-positioning of airlines, that is, their environmental image relative to other airlines and how actual environmental performance relates to this eco-positioning. This paper identifies the environmental perceptions that passengers hold of twelve airlines and relates these perceptions to airlines' actual environmental performance, using load factors, aircraft age and the atmosfair Airline index as proxies for environmental performance. Based on a survey of over 600 passengers at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, the research analyses air travellers' perception of airlines from an environmental perspective. The results show that while there are significant differences in people's environmental perception of airlines, the eco-positioning of the airlines is not correlated to their actual environmental performance. The results support previous research findings in other industries that in many cases actual performance is less important than communicating environmental messages to the public in creating a superior eco-positioning.

Suggested Citation

  • Mayer, Robert & Ryley, Tim & Gillingwater, David, 2015. "Eco-positioning of airlines: Perception versus actual performance," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 44, pages 82-89.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:44-45:y:2015:i::p:82-89
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2015.03.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699715000253
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2015.03.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Khosro Jahdi & Gaye Acikdilli, 2009. "Marketing Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Marriage of Convenience or Shotgun Wedding?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(1), pages 103-113, August.
    2. Dobruszkes, Frédéric & Dehon, Catherine & Givoni, Moshe, 2014. "Does European high-speed rail affect the current level of air services? An EU-wide analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 461-475.
    3. Nygren, Emma & Aleklett, Kjell & Höök, Mikael, 2009. "Aviation fuel and future oil production scenarios," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 4003-4010, October.
    4. Miyoshi, C. & Mason, K.J., 2009. "The carbon emissions of selected airlines and aircraft types in three geographic markets," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 138-147.
    5. Brueckner, Jan K. & Zhang, Anming, 2010. "Airline emission charges: Effects on airfares, service quality, and aircraft design," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 44(8-9), pages 960-971, September.
    6. Tom Curtin, 2007. "Managing Green Issues," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, edition 0, number 978-0-230-80085-4.
    7. Sgouridis, Sgouris & Bonnefoy, Philippe A. & Hansman, R. John, 2011. "Air transportation in a carbon constrained world: Long-term dynamics of policies and strategies for mitigating the carbon footprint of commercial aviation," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 1077-1091.
    8. Morrell, Peter, 2009. "The potential for European aviation CO2 emissions reduction through the use of larger jet aircraft," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 151-157.
    9. Mayer, Robert & Ryley, Tim & Gillingwater, David, 2012. "Passenger perceptions of the green image associated with airlines," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 179-186.
    10. Dray, Lynnette, 2013. "An analysis of the impact of aircraft lifecycles on aviation emissions mitigation policies," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 62-69.
    11. Zou, Bo & Elke, Matthew & Hansen, Mark & Kafle, Nabin, 2014. "Evaluating air carrier fuel efficiency in the US airline industry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 306-330.
    12. Givoni, Moshe & Rietveld, Piet, 2010. "The environmental implications of airlines' choice of aircraft size," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 159-167.
    13. Yu-Shan Chen, 2010. "The Drivers of Green Brand Equity: Green Brand Image, Green Satisfaction, and Green Trust," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(2), pages 307-319, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Belén Payán-Sánchez & Miguel Pérez-Valls & José Antonio Plaza-Úbeda, 2019. "The Contribution of Global Alliances to Airlines’ Environmental Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-16, August.
    2. Sarbassov, Yerbol & Venetis, Christos & Aiymbetov, Berik & Abylkhani, Bexultan & Yagofarova, Almira & Tokmurzin, Diyar & Anthony, Edward J. & Inglezakis, Vassilis J., 2020. "Municipal solid waste management and greenhouse gas emissions at international airports: A case study of Astana International Airport," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    3. Kaya, Gizem & Aydın, Umut & Ülengin, Burç & Karadayı, Melis Almula & Ülengin, Füsun, 2023. "How do airlines survive? An integrated efficiency analysis on the survival of airlines," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brueckner, Jan K. & Abreu, Chrystyane, 2017. "Airline fuel usage and carbon emissions: Determining factors," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 10-17.
    2. Brueckner, Jan K. & Abreu, Chrystyane, 2020. "Does the fuel-conservation effect of higher fuel prices appear at both the aircraft-model and aggregate airline levels?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    3. Debbage, Keith G. & Debbage, Neil, 2019. "Aviation carbon emissions, route choice and tourist destinations: Are non-stop routes a remedy?," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Alonso, G. & Benito, A. & Lonza, L. & Kousoulidou, M., 2014. "Investigations on the distribution of air transport traffic and CO2 emissions within the European Union," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 85-93.
    5. Vedant Singh, 2016. "Perceptions of emission reduction potential in air transport: a structural equation modeling approach," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 377-403, December.
    6. Miyoshi, Chikage & Fukui, Hideki, 2018. "Measuring the rebound effects in air transport: The impact of jet fuel prices and air carriers’ fuel efficiency improvement of the European airlines," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 71-84.
    7. Adler, Nicole & Martini, Gianmaria & Volta, Nicola, 2013. "Measuring the environmental efficiency of the global aviation fleet," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 82-100.
    8. Amizadeh, Fatemeh & Alonso, Gustavo & Benito, Arturo & Morales-Alonso, Gustavo, 2016. "Analysis of the recent evolution of commercial air traffic CO2 emissions and fleet utilization in the six largest national markets of the European Union," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 9-19.
    9. D’Alfonso, Tiziana & Jiang, Changmin & Bracaglia, Valentina, 2016. "Air transport and high-speed rail competition: Environmental implications and mitigation strategies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 261-276.
    10. Jinsoo Hwang & Hyunjoon Kim, 2019. "Consequences of a green image of drone food delivery services: The moderating role of gender and age," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 872-884, July.
    11. Thowayeb H. Hassan & Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih & Amany E. Salem, 2021. "Factors Affecting the Rate of Fuel Consumption in Aircrafts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-16, July.
    12. Rui Qiu & Shuhua Hou & Xin Chen & Zhiyi Meng, 2021. "Green aviation industry sustainable development towards an integrated support system," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 2441-2452, July.
    13. Sheu, Jiuh-Biing, 2014. "Airline ambidextrous competition under an emissions trading scheme – A reference-dependent behavioral perspective," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 115-145.
    14. D’Alfonso, Tiziana & Jiang, Changmin & Bracaglia, Valentina, 2015. "Would competition between air transport and high-speed rail benefit environment and social welfare?," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 118-137.
    15. Presto, Felix & Gollnick, Volker & Lau, Alexander & Lütjens, Klaus, 2022. "Flight frequency regulation and its temporal implications," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 106-118.
    16. Miyoshi, Chikage, 2014. "Assessing the equity impact of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme on an African airline," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 56-64.
    17. Jiang, Changmin, 2021. "Aviation tax and railway subsidy: An integrated policy," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 1-13.
    18. Hagmann, Carmen & Semeijn, Janjaap & Vellenga, David B., 2015. "Exploring the green image of airlines: Passenger perceptions and airline choice," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 37-45.
    19. Lo, Pak Lam & Martini, Gianmaria & Porta, Flavio & Scotti, Davide, 2020. "The determinants of CO2 emissions of air transport passenger traffic: An analysis of Lombardy (Italy)," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 108-119.
    20. Isabelle Laplace & Chantal Roucolle & Aliya Ussinova, 2017. "An analysis of the impact of larger aircraft (A-380) on flight frequency," Post-Print hal-02009250, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:44-45:y:2015:i::p:82-89. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-air-transport-management/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.