Report: Travelling Light

Business flying plays an essential part in determining aviation's future - it currently represents 25% of UK passenger trips and a much higher percentage of airline profitability.

Our research challenges the assumption that airport expansion is essential for business productivity, and lends support to WWF-UK’s campaign for companies to cut one in five business flights. This film explores report and One in Five challenge.

Background

Aviation is one of the fastest-growing sources of carbon emissions in the UK, rising annually at a rate of 3% and representing 13% of the climate change damage generated by the UK. Business flying represents 25% of UK passenger trips and a much higher percentage of airline profitability.

WWF-UK sought to understand how seriously businesses are taking the need to reduce their carbon footprint from travel, and their future flying intentions.

In January 2008, we commissioned an independent market research company, Critical Research, to undertake a survey of business travel practices among the FTSE 350 companies. Here is a taster of the findings in our report, Travelling Light:

Key findings

• 62% of companies surveyed are already reducing their business travel footprint.
• A further 24% of companies are currently developing plans to do so.
• 89% of companies expect they will want to fly less over the next 10 years.
• 85% of companies say that videoconferencing can help them reduce their flying.
• 89% of companies believe that videoconferencing can improve their productivity.

These findings are very significant, not only because they challenge the assumption that airport expansion is essential for business productivity, but also because they lend support to WWF-UK's latest campaign calling on companies to cut one in five business flights.