Feasibility of Increasing Major Airlines’ Hub Connectivity through Electric Aircrafts

Abstract

In a constantly developing European economy, people are also starting to grow their sustainability consciousness. As a result, European citizens are accordingly adapting their lifestyle to a more environmentally friendly way of traveling. At the same time, an improved economical situation and a steady after Covid-19 pandemic recovery is pushing travel operators to increase their services in Europe. As a result, frequent flyers are shifting more environmental ways to travel as their company’s travel policies are changing on one hand, while on the other hand they have developed a stronger sustainability consciousness. European airlines, the most affected actors of this shift, include high speed train options for the shortest part of their flight itineraries in an attempt to diversify and keep valuable frequent flier shares. Since air traffic figures in Europe show an incremental trend in passenger traffic for the next decades, European major airlines need to find a way to expand their short range flights connectivity while, at the same time, not increasing their environmental footprint. The aim of this research is to further investigate the feasibility of using electric aircrafts on major airlines short range flights within Europe instead of intermodal high speed rail solutions. The focus is on frequent flyers, as they show the greatest willingness to pay for those flights. Findings suggest that the implementation of the suggested kind of aircraft may not be as feasible as it may seem on the first instance, both on the economical and operational point of view.