Sustainable future flight business models: Motivations and Barriers

A conference presentation by Dr Chenyi Liao on Sustainable future flight business models: Motivations and Barriers. See paper in the linked materials.

This presentation investigates stakeholders’ motivations and barriers within emerging Future Flight business models. Aviation is vital for developing economies, and the urgent need for a transition towards more sustainable practices is gaining prominence. Hence, understanding the factors shaping Future Flight technology’s adoption is crucial. Drawing on ten interviews with pioneering Future Flight-related technologists, business leaders, social entrepreneurs, and policymakers, we employed the Technology-Organisation-Environment framework and Transaction Cost Economics theory to analyse critical factors influencing Future Flight business models. We show participants are concerned about sustainable aviation fuel availability and Future Flight technologies’ readiness. We emphasise the importance of technology maturity and commercial viability for successful Future Flight implementation. Smaller start-ups are poised to lead such development because of their nimbleness and sustainability focus. Concurrently, larger companies face challenges transitioning from traditional business models. We identified regulatory frameworks, social acceptance, and public demand as key drivers. Finally, we show how entrepreneurs desire standardised global regulations to support sustainable aviation practices. We offer insights into the complex dynamics of Future Flight adoption, highlighting companies’ need to evaluate their cultural and human resource strategies while emphasising global regulatory standards’ importance – as part of The CoFFEE Project’s (www.coffeefutureflight.com) broader research programme.

Presented at technical session Sustainable Aviation, at Transport Research Arena 2024 in Dublin, on 16th April, 2024.

Images on second slide have been redacted due to copyright restrictions. The diagram on the third slide is sourced from the UKRI Future Flight Vision and Roadmap document.