An empirical analysis of American Passenger's willingness to fly in commercial airplanes after vaccination against COVID-19

Abstract

Although several studies have explored the effects of the pandemic on aviation, little remains known about whether members of the public are willing to fly again after they have been vaccinated. The current study uses the Health Belief Model (HBM) to fill this missing gap by manipulating the following variables: 1) whether or not the participant is vaccinated; 2) whether or not airlines require that all passengers and crew receive vaccinations; 3) length of flight; 4) destination; and 5) the number of passengers. The data from 678 participants revealed that willingness to fly is much higher if the participants themselves have been vaccinated, if the airlines require all passengers to be vaccinated, if the flight is short, if the destination is domestic, and if the number of passengers is low. These findings did not appear to differ as a function of flying business versus pleasure. We discuss the practical implications of these data as airlines struggle to bring back their customer base.

Keywords: Air travel; Airlines; Aviation; COVID-19; Consumer perceptions; experimental Design.

Fig. 1

Data from Phase 1 as a function of a) whether or not the participant had been vaccinated; b) whether or not the airlines required all passengers to be vaccinated; and c) the reason for travel. Standard error bars are included.

Fig. 2

Data from Phase 2 as a function of Length of Flight, Destination, and Number of Passengers, when the airlines require all passengers to be vaccinated. Standard error bars are included.

Fig. 3

Data from Phase 2 as a function of Length of Flight, Destination, and Number of Passengers, when the airlines do not require all passengers to be vaccinated. Standard error bars are included.