Exploring air passengers' perceptions and needs for future air travel services

Abstract

With the transformation of urban transportation structures and the rapid development of emerging aviation travel modes, public demand and perception regarding future air travel have increasingly become a research focus. However, empirical studies investigating passengers' perceptions and demands for future air travel, particularly in the absence of actual usage experience, remain relatively scarce. This study integrates three key variables—demand for traditional aviation services, cognition of emerging aviation technologies, and willingness to adopt future air travel services—and constructs a structural equation model (SEM) to systematically explore the psychological pathways and behavioral decision-making mechanisms underlying passengers’ acceptance of future air travel services. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect 194 valid responses, and data analysis was performed using SPSS and AMOS. The results reveal that both the demand for traditional aviation services and the cognition of emerging aviation technologies have significant positive effects on the willingness to adopt future air travel services. Moreover, cognition of emerging aviation technologies plays a significant partial mediating role between traditional service demand and behavioral willingness. This study clarifies the interactive mechanism between traditional service experience and new technology cognition in shaping user acceptance behaviors, expands the applicability of technology acceptance theories, and provides theoretical and practical guidance for the design of future air travel services and policy formulation.