Aviation and the Environment: Public Attitudes

Abstract

This dissertation explores the publics’ perception of the airline industry and its operation through a survey using a specially designed questionnaire. Focusing on the concerns surrounding the airline industry due to its contribution to global warming and its everlasting damage on the environment, this dissertation takes an in depth look into the publics attitudes towards these geographical issues. The use of a questionnaire allowed the gathering of opinions from 105 respondents on their knowledge, feelings and actions towards the way the current airline industry is operated. The feelings in the research were at times very naïve of the effect air travel has on the environment; Festinger (1957) links this to the theory of cognitive dissonance, which is apparent throughout the research.