TDL Brief: The Future of Air Travel
As we continue to evolve into an increasingly globalized world, air travel has shifted from being a luxury reserved for the elite to a mode of transportation used by the masses. In 2019, over 4.5 billion people travelled by airplane. However, due to the pandemic, 2020’s numbers took a serious hit, dropping to just under 1.8 billion travelers.1 Unfortunately, this has led to devastating rates of layoffs and salary cuts for those in the aviation industry.
Although international travel bans are part of the reason that air travel has slowed down in the past few months, another may be the fact that people often associate air travel with danger. The fear of catching the virus while boarded on a plane might be new, but an unwarranted amount of anxiety surrounding the safety of travel has been prevalent for decades. While disastrous plane crashes have occurred, data demonstrates that the chances of dying in a plane crash are 1 in 9,821, while the odds of dying in a car crash are 1 in 114.2 So why is it that we approach air travel with more trepidation than might objectively be called for? The fears created by the pandemic might change how people conceive of air travel forever – and the changes the industry itself has made may stick around long after the virus has been controlled.
We also must remember that air travel is an industry interested in making profit. To do so, it would benefit people with stakes in the air travel industry to take advantage of behavioral science in order to better understand their customers. Behavioral science can be used to predict the air travel choices they make and can also be used to push people to get on board with charitable campaigns organized by different airlines.
References
- Mazareanu, E. (2020, November 27). Number of scheduled passengers boarded by the global airline industry from 2004 to 2021. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/564717/airline-industry-passenger-traffic-globally/
- Hauser, E. (2019, October 30). Is Flying Really Safer Than Driving? https://www.lifesavvy.com/12075/is-flying-really-safer-than-driving/
- Mzezewa, T. (2020, November 25). Is It Safe to Fly During the Pandemic? Answers From the Experts. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/travel/air-travel-safety-coronavirus.html
- Hardingham-Gill, T. (2020, August 20). The odds of catching COVID-19 on an airplane are slimmer than you think, scientists say. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/odds-catching-covid-19-flight-wellness-scn/index.html
- Liang, A. (2020, May). Applying Behavioural Science and Automation in Future of Aviation. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.28640.92168/1
- Bloom, L. B. (2020, June 27). You Won’t Believe How Many Airlines Haven’t Survived Coronavirus. How Does It Affect You? https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2020/06/27/airlines-coronavirus-travel-bankruptcy/?sh=161e2c5c5f69
- TDL perspectives: Addressing the climate crisis with behavioral science. (2020, September 11). The Decision Lab. https://thedecisionlab.com/insights/environment/tdl-perspectives-addressing-the-climate-crisis
- Kalkstein, Y. (2020, October 7). Why is changing behavior so hard? The Decision Lab. https://thedecisionlab.com/insights/environment/change-is-hard/
- Collins, A. T., Rose, J. M., & Hess, S. (2010). Interactive stated choice surveys: A study of air travel behaviour. Transportation, 39(1), 55-79. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-011-9327-z
- MacGregor, S. (2020, November 28). Air Canada Launches Unique Holiday Campaign Celebrating The Gift Of Travel. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/sandramacgregor/2020/11/28/air-canada-launches-unique-holiday-campaign-celebrating-the-gift-of-travel/?sh=7ad4bce57200
About the Authors
Dan Pilat
Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.
Dr. Sekoul Krastev
Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.
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