Sustainability vs. Affordability: How Passengers View Airline Pricing and Sustainability Effort

Abstract

The present paper focuses on raising the question and discussing passengers' perceptions of Pakistani airlines regarding the linkage between ticket prices and sustainability programmes. The airlines around the world have begun adopting greener initiatives such as operating fuel-efficient aircraft, implementing carbon offset schemes, and modifying operations to reduce carbon emissions. The paper analyzes the drivers of sustainable awareness among passengers, how they see the affordability and perceived value in determining their willingness to pay for sustainable airline services. The quantitative and cross-sectional method was applied, and the study surveyed 160 airline passengers through a structured questionnaire, which employed a five-point Likert scale. Data was evaluated in SPSS relying on descriptive statistics, reliability, correlation, and regression analysis. Mediation and moderation data analyses examined the mediating role of perceived value and the moderating effect on income level. Findings indicate that passengers who learn more about the concept of sustainability are more willing to use greener services of airline companies. Still, affordability plays a large role that people desire to have sustainable solutions but not at the expense of overly pushing their finances. The research also concludes that perceived value partially defines the process of sustainability awareness into willingness-to-pay, and income level is what determines the extent to which affordability is important.  Although the majority of passengers declare that they are in favor of environment-friendly aviation, most of them are not willing to pay the increased fares unless they can be able to see the changes.