NATS survey surprise

Price is the most important factor when choosing an airline – but on-board comfort and facilities are becoming ever more influential, according to a study of passenger attitudes by air traffic service provider NATS.

The NATS Aviation Index, now in its second year, shows passengers are placing growing importance on the quality of on-board facilities, with a quarter of people now citing it as one of the most important from a list of factors, up from 15% in 2018.

Similarly, more than seven in 10 people (71%) claim they would never fly with an airline they felt had a bad reputation, pointing to service, reliability and performance as the biggest concerns.

In another finding, the survey shows while only 38% of passengers said they would be willing to pay more to fly with a particular airline, it is a proportion that has grown 11 percentage points since 2018.

NATS operations director Juliet Kennedy, said: “It may be unsurprising people remain price sensitive, but it is striking to see the growth in other factors and in the number of people who would pay more for a perceived better flying experience.”

www.nats.aero/news/aviation-index-2019

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

Michael carrivick, uk

For some of us, adequate seat pitch is beginning to come before price, especially on longer flights. Being cooped up in a seat of 30inch seat pitch or less is totally unacceptable (32inches in case of longhaul).