Risks and benefits of sustainable aviation: factors impacting the adoption of electric planes

Abstract Electric planes (e-planes) represent a significant innovation in aviation and in technology in general. E-planes will bring many environmental benefits such as reduced noise pollution, a smaller carbon footprint, elimination of fossil fuel dependency, and reliance on cleaner energy sources. These contribute to a promising new future and the adoption of sustainable practices. However, despite these promising benefits, consumers/travelers may be hesitant to adopt e-planes due to the risk involved in new technologies and innovations. This study investigates factors that influence potential travelers’ intentions to travel via e-planes. We specifically look at factors associated with perceived environmental benefits and perceived risk. In addition, we investigate the impact of personal traits such as risk-taking susceptibility on the adoption of e-planes. We utilized structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the conceptual model using responses from 266 participants. Results show that the personality trait of risk-taking susceptibility has the largest impact on the intention to adopt e-planes. In addition, environmental benefits have a positive influence on e-planes adoption. The influence of environmental benefits is more than 50% higher than the influence of perceived risk on the adoption of e-planes. These results have important implications on strategies that aviation companies should follow to improve travelers’ adoption rate of e-planes.