How has sustainability shaped communication and marketing in aviation industry? : A comparative case study

Abstract

This thesis investigates green marketing in aviation industry through comparative case study of four Airlines: Finnair, KLM, American Airlines and Qantas. The aim of this thesis is to understand green marketing, to research the sustainability marketing of the case companies, to see if there are similarities or differences between the case companies in sustainability marketing and to detect if over the time there has been a trend concerning sustain-ability marketing. Desktop research method was used for theory as well as to analyze and categorize sustainability marketing of the case companies. Case companies’ YouTube channels as well as press releases were utilized as main marketing material source. The material was categorized into seven different topics which allowed for analyses of the differences and similarities between sustainability marketing of the case companies. Main findings were that the case companies focused mainly in two topics: fuels and carbon neutrality/emission reductions while certificates/sustainability indexes were discussed relatively often as well. KLM was publishing sustainability related articles and videos most actively while American Airlines the least actively. No clear trend was detected in posting activeness of case companies, except for year 2019 being perhaps a beginning of more active trend for Finnair and KLM. A difference between the focus topics in press releases and YouTube channels was detected. In press release side, the most common discussion topic was fuel related issues whilst on YouTube carbon neutrality and emission reduction were most frequent topics. Limitations are challenging categorization of topics and conclusions that can be derived from the findings.