Expert View: If we’re as green as we claim, the airlines will suffer

…If buying habits really are changing, though, the aviation industry is the most exposed to the possibility of a consumer boycott, for unlike the grocery sector, it cannot offer low-carbon alternatives. If people decide global warming is a sufficiently serious problem, the airlines will inevitably suffer.

So far, the expansion of air travel seems to have proceeded almost unchecked, but recently, for the first time, Ryanair said it saw some evidence “at the edges” of changes in traveller behaviour.


In the past few months there have been plenty of opinion polls on the issue. The results have been far from consistent, with answers strongly affected by the tone of the questions: if the pollster’s patter starts with horror stories about global warming, then the interviewee tends to volunteer a greater intention to reduce flying.

The questions and answers below give a very tentative summary of my conclusions from these recent polls.

The Independent