Millennials' perceived concerns on air travel post COVID-19
Kitinoja, Jenni (2021)
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021052310513
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021052310513
Tiivistelmä
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, air travel came to a total standstill as different travel restrictions came into force. This may have left some concerns on how safe flying is and whether it is even worth it anymore. In order to restart the aviation industry, it is important to recognize these concerns and try to minimize them to make people feel comfortable to fly again.
This thesis aims to find out how safe Millennials perceive flying to be after COVID-19 and how willing they are to fly again international flights for leisure. The objective is to recognize possible factors regarding COVID-19 that Millennials perceive as risks when flying for leisure in a post pandemic world. The subobjective is to define the safety measures that are most important for Millennials and that would make them more willing to fly again. The focus group of the research is Millennials living in Finland who have not taken any international flights for leisure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The theoretical framework consists of three chapters. The first chapter focuses on Millennial generation, their characteristics and traveling habits. The second chapter of the framework provides information of the ongoing pandemic COVID-19 and its impact on aviation and travel risk perception. The last chapter addresses different health issues of air travel and in-flight transmission of viruses. Also, different health and safety measures that have been taken in use against COVID-19 during a flight are presented.
The thesis is conducted as a quantitative research. The chosen quantitative method was a survey questionnaire implemented through an online platform Webropol. The survey was published on the author’s social media channels which were Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. The link to the survey was open for a week. All together 132 answers were gathered during one week with 105 participants fitting into the focus group.
The results show that overall Millennials do not seem to be very concerned of catching the virus on their next flight after the pandemic. To be seated next to an infected person would make Millennials the most concerned. On the other hand, crew moving around in the cabin wouldn’t make Millennials very concerned. Safety measure making Millennials feel the safest and thus more willing to fly would be that the crew and passengers would be vaccinated. Other safety measures Millennials would value are everyone wearing a mask during a flight, everyone having a negative COVID-19 test and controlled boarding and exiting of aircraft to ensure safety distances. Overall, Millennials are willing to fly but different safety measures are still valued even after the pandemic.
The recommendations for further research would be to research whether other generations are more concerned or whether the concerns differ between the generations. Also, it would be recommended to research whether the concerns and willingness to fly change once Millennials have taken their first flight after the pandemic.
This thesis aims to find out how safe Millennials perceive flying to be after COVID-19 and how willing they are to fly again international flights for leisure. The objective is to recognize possible factors regarding COVID-19 that Millennials perceive as risks when flying for leisure in a post pandemic world. The subobjective is to define the safety measures that are most important for Millennials and that would make them more willing to fly again. The focus group of the research is Millennials living in Finland who have not taken any international flights for leisure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The theoretical framework consists of three chapters. The first chapter focuses on Millennial generation, their characteristics and traveling habits. The second chapter of the framework provides information of the ongoing pandemic COVID-19 and its impact on aviation and travel risk perception. The last chapter addresses different health issues of air travel and in-flight transmission of viruses. Also, different health and safety measures that have been taken in use against COVID-19 during a flight are presented.
The thesis is conducted as a quantitative research. The chosen quantitative method was a survey questionnaire implemented through an online platform Webropol. The survey was published on the author’s social media channels which were Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. The link to the survey was open for a week. All together 132 answers were gathered during one week with 105 participants fitting into the focus group.
The results show that overall Millennials do not seem to be very concerned of catching the virus on their next flight after the pandemic. To be seated next to an infected person would make Millennials the most concerned. On the other hand, crew moving around in the cabin wouldn’t make Millennials very concerned. Safety measure making Millennials feel the safest and thus more willing to fly would be that the crew and passengers would be vaccinated. Other safety measures Millennials would value are everyone wearing a mask during a flight, everyone having a negative COVID-19 test and controlled boarding and exiting of aircraft to ensure safety distances. Overall, Millennials are willing to fly but different safety measures are still valued even after the pandemic.
The recommendations for further research would be to research whether other generations are more concerned or whether the concerns differ between the generations. Also, it would be recommended to research whether the concerns and willingness to fly change once Millennials have taken their first flight after the pandemic.