Flying toward sustainability? Investigating the attitude-behaviour gap among Italian air travellers

Air transport, a major contributor to carbon emissions, faces escalating environmental scrutiny both in Europe and beyond. This study focuses on investigating the attitude-behaviour gap regarding individual flying activity and environmental concern among Italian air travellers. An original survey collected data on demographics, flying activity, awareness, and policy support from a representative sample of 1004 Italian adults; then, regression models analysed factors influencing flight frequency and distance travelled. Findings reveal significant correlations between policy support and reduced flying, highlighting policy attitudes' impact on behaviour. However, general environmental concern did not consistently affect travel decisions, underscoring the persistent attitude-behaviour gap already described in the literature. Further analysis differentiated motivations for flying and flight distance, observing distinct behaviours for different sub-samples of flights. While environmentally aware individuals do not reduce business travel accordingly, policy supporters showed reluctance for vacation flights. Moreover, further reducing the analysis to “substitutable” flights, both the environmental concern and the policy support variable gained significance. Finally, a latent class model analysis additionally extends the interpretation of the results. These emphasize the need for comprehensive policies addressing both supply and demand sides of aviation emissions, such as combining market-based and regulatory interventions alongside education, information and the promotion of Sustainable Alternative Fuels (SAFs). Overall, the study analyses a pivotal environmental issue through the analysis of a novel sample and contributes to understanding individual behaviours and informing policy strategies to mitigate aviation's environmental impact.