Frequent Flyers Programmes as Mobility Boosters? Implications for Sustainable Aviation.

Aviation is an important driver of individual and global mobility and emissions associated with transports. Recent studies indicate that a relatively small, highly mobile part of society may account for a large share of the total distances travelled. This phenomenon is as yet insufficiently understood. In addressing this situation, the paper reviews the processes leading to growth in mobility, and goes on to focus on frequent flyer programmes (FFPs) as an institutionalized framework for high mobility, detailing how these programmes reward and thus increase interest in mobility. Results are linked to a number of observations regarding the interrelationship of high mobility and social status, and substantiated by a survey of FFP members and their perspectives on benefits provided by such programmes. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of FFPs for growth in aeromobility and its sustainability in a climate change context.