Airline passengers' perception of sustainability practices and business model of airlines: A study in the Turkish civil aviation market

Considering the future of our world, it is now widely accepted by all stakeholders that sustainability should be put as the first priority. Reviewing the literature on sustainability in aviation, we observe that there are not many studies particularly on Turkish civil aviation although some research has been done on the subject. As Turkish civil aviation has been growing rapidly in the recent period, it is certain that the issue of sustainability should be addressed with great attention, and the necessary tools and policies should be developed. In this regard, the focal purpose of this study is to determine the importance of environmental practices of airlines from the airline passengers' perspective and to investigate their perception and awareness of sustainability practices and environmental initiatives of airlines. On the other hand, the study also aims at revealing the possible relationship between airlines' business model preferences, passengers' perceptions and awareness on airlines' sustainability policies, and passengers' willingness to voluntarily contribute to these activities. As a result of the analysis, we observed that the perception of passengers on airlines' activities on the sustainability has a significant positive effect on the passengers' willingness to voluntarily contribute to these activities. However, the study revealed that the passenger profile, in other words, the airline business model preferences of the passengers, has no significant moderation effect between the perceptions of the passengers regarding sustainability practices and their voluntary contribution to these activities.