Abstract
This article draws on social practice theory and wellbeing perspectives to outline a research framework for the study of flight-intensive practices. The framework is then used to discuss, through a non-systematic review, the social science air travel literature and to propose avenues for future research. We study both the work and leisure domains, with sub-cases for travel in academia and visiting family and friends. We find insights of a complex relationship between flight-intensive practices and wellbeing. On one hand, currently flight-intensive practices are linked to human need fulfilment, particularly in the family and social domains. Leisure-related air travel often enhances subjective wellbeing, as it contributes to positive moods and life satisfaction, but may not be sustained in the long term. On the other hand, flying, particularly frequent flying, hinders wellbeing by increasing levels of stress and health-related issues, and by straining work/life balance. Overall, the study suggests that policies to reduce the demand for air travel may not significantly compromise wellbeing if accompanied by infrastructural and sociocultural changes that support specific groups to still meet their needs for relatedness, participation, or understanding through low carbon transport, videoconferencing, or reducing the total amount of travel. We identify avenues for future research, both to consolidate our understanding of the practice elements that will support a shift away from flight-intensive practices, and to understand their direct effects on wellbeing.
Key messages
We present a literature review and a research framework to study flight-intensive practices and wellbeing.
Reducing air travel in work-related practices with minimal negative impact on wellbeing appears possible.
More research is needed on how using low-carbon transportation for leisure and family visits impacts well-being.
The link between material and sociocultural elements of flight-intensive practices and wellbeing is understudied.
Introduction
Air travel is an extremely energy-intensive and unequal consumption practice concentrated among the global elite, which includes much of the middle class in the Global North (Oswald et al, 2020; Nielsen et al, 2021). Frequent flying is concentrated among a very small group globally, where 1% of flyers contribute more than half of aviation emissions (Gössling and Humpe, 2020). Air travel has caused 4% of total human-induced global warming (Klöwer et al, 2021). Residents in countries with the Nordic welfare model have contributed significantly to this. Globally, Finland and Iceland rank second and third, respectively, in per capita CO2 emissions from aviation. Residents in Sweden (ranked 7th), Norway (13th), and Denmark (20th) also generate substantial per capita emissions from flying (Hopkinson and Cairns, 2021). The luxury and disproportionate nature of emissions from flying, combined with the lack of feasible technological solutions to make flight emissions-free, means demand-side measures are necessary for aviation to be compatible with climate stability.
While the COVID-19 pandemic caused a temporary decrease in aviation, global air traffic returned to pre-pandemic levels by February 2024 (IATA, 2024a), putting air travel on track to contribute to 22% of total CO2 emissions by 2050 (Cames et al, 2015; Gössling and Humpe, 2020).1 Current efforts to mitigate the environmental impact of air travel have primarily focused on carbon offsets, fuel efficiency, and other technical or operational strategies (Kallbekken and Sælen, 2021). Despite an eightfold increase in efficiency gains since 1960, the pre-pandemic trajectory suggests that these improvements could be overshadowed by escalating flight volumes, posing a challenge to achieving a sustainable, zero-emission society by 2050 (Monschauer et al, 2021).
Avoiding travel, and air travel in particular, is the most effective demand-side measure to reduce emissions, though not the most popular when it comes to policy design (Aamaas and Peters, 2017; Creutzig et al, 2022). In affluent countries, and despite the fact that most people do not fly regularly,2 air travel is embedded in many social practices, from commuting and visiting friends and relatives abroad to networking in academia and participating in international sports competitions, all of which are linked in one way or another to people’s wellbeing (Randles and Mander, 2009; Luzecka, 2016; Becken and Hughey, 2021; Wynes, 2021; Bjørkdahl and Franco Duharte, 2022; Cass, 2022). In rich countries and among specific groups, the fact that many wellbeing-enhancing practices are flight-intensive makes them resistant to change, particularly in the leisure domain, including visiting family and friends (Dobruszkes et al, 2019).
Even though some studies do exist (see, for example, Becken and Hughey, 2021 and Guillen-Royo, 2022), we find no systematised body of knowledge where practices involving air travel are analysed for their impact on wellbeing and quality of life. We believe that an effort is needed to integrate this knowledge as demand-side measures to reduce air travel volumes, such as frequent flyer levies, air travel quotas, high fuel taxes, and caps on emissions from aviation, are not openly endorsed by policymakers due to arguments based on air travel’s contribution to wellbeing that are only loosely substantiated by evidence (Büchs and Mattioli, 2022; Cass, 2022). We must understand if and how flying affects wellbeing to design climate policies that reduce emissions and maintain or improve quality of life.
This paper suggests linking social practice theory and wellbeing perspectives to outline a research framework to study both the underlying drivers and the wellbeing implications of flight-intensive practices. Through a non-systematic review of the social science air travel literature, the framework is then used to identify existing gaps in the literature and to propose future research. By filling the gaps through future empirical studies, particularly by linking the elements of practice through to their outcomes for wellbeing, we will better understand how – or even whether – restrictive demand-side policies influence people’s wellbeing. Ultimately, this can inform emissions reduction policies that are effective and socially feasible.
The paper proceeds as follows: first, we discuss wellbeing as a concept and propose a connection to flight-intensive practices and their constitutive elements through an analytical framework. Next, we introduce our approach to the literature review and discuss the general findings from the literature of the relationship between flight-intensive practices and wellbeing. The following section is structured around the literature within the domains of work and leisure. Two subsections delve into air travel associated with academia and visits to family and friends. The final section identifies gaps in the literature and proposes future research.
Wellbeing and social practice: towards an analytical framework
The term ‘wellbeing’ encompasses understandings of what makes a life good, considering basic need fulfilment, quality of relationships, emotions, individual perceptions and the extent to which socioeconomic and political conditions can provide a good quality of life (Gough and McGregor, 2007). Among several possible approaches to study wellbeing (see, for example, Delle Fave et al, 2011), here we focus on subjective and objective wellbeing (Gasper, 2005). Subjective wellbeing perspectives incorporate moods and emotions, and people’s own assessments of the quality of, for example, jobs, housing, public services and leisure time. Objective perspectives are concerned with establishing the prerequisites for full participation in society through human or basic needs, capabilities or other indicators of minimum requirements for social participation (Gasper, 2007).
We are aware that subjective approaches to wellbeing are often considered unreliable, as people get used to wealth or deprivation and compare their situation with that of their reference group, not reflecting in their assessments the reality of their current situation (Gasper, 2007). Likewise, objective perspectives based on needs or capabilities are criticised for being paternalistic and not accounting for individuals’ own experiences (Gough, 2017; Lamb and Steinberger, 2017). Still, we consider that both wellbeing traditions are of relevance to gain insights into the relationship between air travel and quality of life. Regarding direct relationships, studies drawing on subjective wellbeing could provide insights into flight-intensive practices and their effects on moods and emotions or perceptions of quality of life. From an objective wellbeing perspective, air travel could contribute to need fulfilment, for example in how flight-intensive practices in the work and leisure domains support the satisfaction of human or basic needs (Max-Neef, 1991; Gough, 2017).
That practices across domains of life are increasingly flight-intensive is a known fact in the mobility literature (Randles and Mander, 2009; Mattioli, 2020). Thus, analysing air travel and its connection to wellbeing requires a general understanding of the social practice concept, which draws on the work of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and his concept of habitus, defined in terms of long-term dispositions acquired and perpetuated through repeated performance and shaped by social structures and conditions (Bourdieu, 1977). By focusing on practices, and not behaviours, we are able to account for how material, social, and cultural elements shape practices. As Wilhite (2016: 24) puts it: ‘Dispositions for future actions are created through past social interactions in places which are governed by formal rules and regulations, informal rules (cultural practices) and take place in material settings which in turn are agentive in practices’ [emphasis added].
My argument is that in the mature capitalist societies, many of the energy-dependent practices that give pleasure, provide comfort and deliver convenience, such as those associated with transport, shelter and entertainment, have formed tacit, collectively embedded associations with private ownership, expansion and speed, and that these in turn are bound up in high energy habits. (Wilhite, 2016: 21)
This perspective is followed by Sahakian et al (2021) as they draw on a social practice perspective to address the possibility of flying less for work, family and leisure. They include in the study practices such as participating in meetings, attending conferences, visiting clients or suppliers, vacationing, participating in family reunions, and visiting friends.
Much of the existing literature on air travel does not explicitly link flight-intensive practices with perspectives on wellbeing. However, Guillen-Royo’s (2022) study on flight-intensive practices in Norway during the COVID-19 pandemic represents an initial effort in this direction. Drawing on Max-Neef’s (1991) theory of fundamental human needs, Guillen-Royo situates social practices and the material, social, and cultural elements shaping them at the level of satisfiers – factors that are socially and culturally relative and integral to satisfying universal human needs. Consequently, both flight-intensive practices, such as attending academic conferences, and the elements that shape them, such as valuing career success or travel policies favouring low-cost, fast modes of transportation, are considered to directly impact wellbeing.
Here we present a framework to link the practices and their constitutive elements to subjective and objective wellbeing (Figure 1), building on Wilhite (2016) and the emphasis on disposition, as well as material, social and cultural elements of practices. As described in the next section, in our review of empirical evidence from the literature, we searched for evidence for the connections between flight-intensive practices and their implications for wellbeing (solid lines in Figure 1).
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Our analytical framework using a social practice approach to study the core concepts of social practices and wellbeing (grey boxes, solid line), here applied to the subject of flight-intensive practices in work and leisure domains (blue). We suggest future research to explicitly study the material, social, and cultural elements of practice (white box, dotted lines) to better understand the opportunities for reducing the flight-intensity of practices.
Citation: Consumption and Society 3, 3; 10.1332/27528499Y2024D000000030
In Figure 1, elements of practice and their indirect (through flight-intensive practices in the work and leisure domains) and direct connections to wellbeing are represented with white colours and dotted lines. This is because, conceptually, these elements are key to supporting a reduction in the intensity of flight-intensive practices. We believe they remain understudied in their role as factors both shaping practices and influencing wellbeing. Thus, the framework can be used to highlight, for example, the potential for the social network aspect of the practice (social) to connect to ‘slow’ travel (cultural) or videoconferencing (material/infrastructural) instead of air travel. This alternative configuration could still contribute positively to wellbeing by facilitating the practice of visiting and being in touch with one’s loved ones, but as we will see throughout the study, it remains largely unexplored (Guillen-Royo, 2022).
An overview of the wellbeing and flight-intensive practices literature
We draw on the framework in Figure 1 to discuss how, in the current historical context of relatively cheap flights and limited alternatives for affordable and comfortable long-distance travel, the literature on air travel has directly or indirectly addressed the relationship between flight-intensive practices and wellbeing. We do not present an exhaustive literature review, but we used Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science to collect information on relevant studies that provide information on the relationship.
We searched for literature within four domains of flight-intensive practices: two domains within work travel (including general work-related travel, as well as academic travel), and two domains within leisure travel: general leisure travel, and family and friends-related travel. Academic travel was included in a separate subsection since academics are well-studied as a group with flight-intensive practices despite their awareness of its climate impacts (Kreil, 2021; Sahakian et al, 2021). Social network-related travel was also considered in a separate domain due to the increasing importance of air travel associated with visiting family and friends (38% of all tourism trips in the EU in 2021).3
We began our literature review by seeking a general overview of recent empirical research on air travel and wellbeing. We used search terms such as ‘air travel and wellbeing’, ‘air travel and human needs’,4 ‘flying and wellbeing’, or ‘air travel and happiness’, to identify relevant literature on the topic with less than 20 relevant returns per search. We then focused on identifying literature within each of our four practice domains by adding search terms such as ‘business air travel and wellbeing’ or ‘leisure air travel and wellbeing’ or ‘visiting family and friends air travel and wellbeing,’ which increased the number of relevant articles by 10–15 per search. In addition, we scanned the reference lists of each of these articles to identify even more papers and refine the data collection. We further included highly relevant references provided by anonymous peer reviewers. For practical reasons and considering that the environmental impact of the surge in low-cost airlines during the 1990s would have already been addressed in the literature from the early 2000s, we confined our search to articles published between 2000 and 2023
Wellbeing and air travel: studies on flying less and frequent flying
Empirical studies explicitly focusing on the relationship between air travel and subjective or objective wellbeing are not abundant. As mentioned above, and in line with the transport literature tradition, air travel is typically discussed in relation to its purpose for work or leisure. Exceptions are the literature on the possibility of flying less and on frequent flying. Studies on these topics suggest a lack of association between the amount of air travel and several subjective or objective wellbeing indicators (Baltruszewicz et al, 2023). Furthermore, studies suggest a potential positive impact on need fulfilment of reducing the amount and frequency of flying at the individual level for those who engage in air travel (frequent flyers or not) (Creutzig et al, 2022; Guillen-Royo, 2022).
Concerning sustainability studies, the avoid-shift-improve model considers travelling less, including flying less, and the simultaneous promotion of telework that falls under the ‘avoid’ demand-side mitigation options, to have a positive impact on most objective wellbeing dimensions (Creutzig et al, 2022). Telework is appraised as having a positive impact on air quality and thus on the needs for physical health or protection. It is also considered to contribute to the need for participation in economic and social activities. While it is true that most of the environmental benefits of telework are linked to avoiding road transport, they can also be related to reducing the number of job-related meetings requiring air travel. The authors also consider the introduction of a carbon price on aviation fuel of USD 400 tCO2-1 as a measure with the potential to halve the demand for flights by 2050 and reduce emissions from aviation by 40%. However, no analysis was conducted to determine how the measure would impact citizens’ wellbeing.
Empirical studies based on qualitative research methods investigating the possibility of flying less touch upon some wellbeing aspects of air travel (Gössling et al, 2019; Jacobson et al, 2020; Sahakian et al, 2021; Guillen-Royo, 2022). Gössling et al (2019) analysed 29 essays of international students at Lund University reflecting on the importance they attached to their flights, and found that students gave high priority to air travel related to visiting family and friends and acquiring new knowledge. These are practices that link to the needs for affection, participation and understanding, as identified by Max-Neef (1991), for example. Additionally, the study found that when participants looked back over the past six years, they categorised 42% of the flights they had taken as of low importance. Low importance was associated with flights to destinations chosen by others, including one’s employer, or to close-by locations. This high percentage could signify that air travel that reduces one’s sense of autonomy or freedom does not contribute to need fulfilment and thus wellbeing, and/or an awareness of existing low-carbon alternatives for closer destinations.
Interestingly, Jacobson et al’s (2020) study of Swedes who decided to reduce or quit flying found that negative emotions associated with knowledge of the catastrophic effects of climate change were key to the decision to fly less. They argued that positive emotions might appear after this initial phase, when those who reduce flying experience slow travel and feel the relief of no longer engaging in activities that work against their environmental knowledge or values (cultural). This may have happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when travel restrictions enabled those with pro-environmental values to act in congruence, thereby increasing their actualisation of the needs for participation, idleness or freedom by flying less (Guillen-Royo, 2022). However, feelings of guilt are not decisive in changing flight-intensive practices in normal circumstances, since guilt suppression is common among those who fly. They avoid confronting the negative feelings associated with an awareness of the environmental impacts of flying by referring to the convenience and cheapness of air travel and its embeddedness in today’s work and leisure practices (Higham et al, 2014; Jacobson et al, 2020).
Another aspect of air travel literature that directly links to wellbeing concerns studies on the relationship between frequent flying and health. Kim and Lee (2007) outline various physical stressors associated with air travel, such as cosmic ray exposure and chemical pollutants from jet fuels, which have been linked to health issues such as cancer, gastrointestinal problems and respiratory infections (Leder and Newman, 2005; Hinninghofen and Enck, 2006). Cohen and Kantenbacher (2020) highlight the negative psychosocial consequences of frequent travel, including isolation and difficulty integrating into local communities. Conversely, disabled individuals or those in poor health tend to fly less, missing out on opportunities for leisure and educational travel and potentially affecting their wellbeing (Büchs et al, 2018; Baltruszewicz et al, 2023).
Flight-intensive practices and wellbeing by domains
Work domain
Acceleration of globalisation processes led to a rapid growth in long-distance travel for work-related purposes such as attending meetings, conferences, commuting, or visiting suppliers. Regular frequent flying has in many organisations been normalised and is now taken for granted as part of everyday life (Gustavson, 2012; Müller and Wittmer, 2023). Compared with leisure travel, however, work-related travel is less determined by individual preferences and emotions. Employees’ individual choices must be seen in the context of wider structural reconfigurations, the geographic dispersion of a corporation, strategic issues, organisational roles, business culture and identity (Faulconbridge and Beaverstock, 2008).
Various forms of work-related long-distance mobility have been explored in the literature, including expatriate assignments, short-term international assignments, international commuting and international business travel (Westman et al, 2023). In short, international business travellers are employees who are based in their home country but who make multiple short trips across national borders (Shaffer et al, 2016). Common features among international business travellers, international commuters and short-term assignees are that they spend time outside their country and that their families remain at home (Shaffer et al, 2016). These three forms of work-related travel are most significant in the contexts of emissions from frequent travel activities and potential negative impacts on mental health and wellbeing. They also represent arrangements that are framing much of the current flight-based travel practices within working life.
Much of the recent research on business travel has addressed its heavy toll in terms of stress, strain and health deterioration. Studies of international business travellers have documented that such travel practices are highly stressful for many employees (Striker et al, 1999; Rundle et al, 2018). In a much-cited study of employees at the World Bank, 50% of the at-home spouses and 75% of the international business traveller sample reported high or very high stress levels due to international travel activities (Espino et al, 2002).
It has also been documented that many international business travellers may be subject to a higher risk of exhaustion, a component of burnout (Mäkelä et al, 2021). As noted by Cohen et al (2018), jet lag can ‘persist up to six days after flying…, and its interference with the body’s circadian rhythm can disrupt a range of biological processes…. Accumulation of fatigue from jet lag, amalgamated with travel stress, may turn chronic, and has been termed “frequent traveller exhaustion”’ (Cohen et al, 2018: 408). Several recent studies have explored the detrimental effects of international business travel on family and social life. Spending much time away from home makes it more difficult to sustain social ties and good relationships with friends and families and increases the risk of work-family conflicts (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985; Jensen, 2014; Mäkelä et al, 2015). Hence, although COVID-19 generally had negative effects on employees’ psychosocial wellbeing (Juchnowicz and Kinowska, 2022), studies have also found that a sudden reduction in travel frequency combined with more time at home may improve the wellbeing of many business travellers without negatively impacting productivity (Becken and Hughey, 2021; Jooss et al, 2022).
In general, the darker side of frequent travelling has been overshadowed by a cultural glamorisation of mobility in society (Cohen and Gössling, 2015; Ye and Xu, 2020), yet some research finds evidence of positive outcomes of business travels. Qualitative studies of business travellers have found that it can provide opportunities for learning, self-growth, and career development (DeFrank et al, 2000; Gustafson, 2012; Ye and Xu, 2020). Rattrie and Kittler (2020) found, for instance, that despite the high risk of negative health effects, low-intensity travel could generate positive and energy-boosting experiences due to the respite from chronic stressors and routines at home. Hence, in their broad review of the health effects of international business travel, Westman et al (2023) conclude that it could be described as a ‘double-edged sword’ where positive and negative aspects are intertwined.
Academic work
Within the domain of working life, academics have been shown to have flight-intensive air travel habits, particularly in terms of the number of international or long-distance flights (Kreil, 2021). Compared to the average citizen, academics on average have twice the number of such flights, despite huge differences from scholar to scholar (Cohen et al, 2020; Eriksson et al, 2020; Whitmarsh et al, 2020). A common explanation for this is that academic work demands long-distance travel to attend conferences, network, conduct fieldwork and even to teach (Nursey-Bray et al, 2019).5 Indeed, the general narrative among academics is that air travel is necessary to perform well as scholars, that is, to become internationally recognised, receive grants, and so on. (Cohen et al, 2020; Schrems and Upham, 2020). Frequent flying within academia is thus associated with prestige (Bjørkdahl and Franco Duterte, 2022).6 Findings from Wynes et al (2019) do not support this notion though, as their study found no relationship between air travel and researchers’ score on the h-index. Yet, perceptions of air travelling being necessary for academic success are what Kreil (2021) sees as the reason why neither pro-environmental attitudes (Lassen, 2010), nor working on sustainability-related topics (Wynes et al, 2019; Whitmarsh et al, 2020), seem to cause academics to fly less.
However, the Paris Agreement and increasing expectations on the higher education sector to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within its own practices have changed the norm of frequent flying (SDSN Australia/Pacific, 2017). Academic air travel is increasingly portrayed as irresponsible, with many arguing that academics need to reduce their air travel if they are to act as role models and gain more credibility (Higham and Font, 2020; Schrems and Upham, 2020; Bjørkdahl and Franco Duterte, 2022). Moreover, academic air travel is associated with inequality in terms of access to funding, geographical strata, and age and gender differences. Conference participation, and thus participation in academic air travel, is more difficult for researchers outside Europe and the US as well as for young researchers, female researchers, researchers with families, and researchers with disabilities. Substituting air travel within academia for more egalitarian online gatherings, or at least offering well-planned online participation as an option, has thus also been found to be beneficial for equality (MoChridhe, 2019).
A related though slightly different side effect of reducing academic air travel is that it also reduces workplace stress (Strengers, 2014). Studies by Tseng et al (2022) and Higham et al (2019) found that academics travel to advance their academic career, but in doing so they may sacrifice family time, which may be a source of stress and frustration for them and their families. Additionally, in a study of academics at Australian universities, Glover et al (2019) found that the reduction of academic air travel seemed to be associated with more local connections and with more time for contemplation. Some academics also argued that slower modes of travel (that is, train travel) were more comfortable and easier to combine with work during travel. However, other academics stressed that time pressures within academia as well as family demands at home would not allow them to opt for slower modes of travel. In general, experiences gained from virtual conferencing during the COVID-19 lockdowns clearly show that reducing air travel volumes in academia is possible7 (Higham et al, 2022; Wenger, 2023). However, there seems to be a gap between the learnings from the COVID-19 experience in academia and universities’ current official travel policies (Tseng et al, 2022).
Leisure domain
Although flying is globally unusual, for those in the top 10% of global income (which includes the middle class in rich countries in Western Europe and North America), leisure-related air travel tends to be represented as a normal part of life and a welcome escape from everyday pressures (Ullström et al, 2021; Schmidt et al, 2024). Empirical studies confirm that most air travel in rich countries is for leisure and vacation. For example, 80% of emissions from air travel by the Swedish population is caused by leisure travel (Kamb and Larsson, 2019). To motivate travellers to fly less, researchers have highlighted the need for attitude change (Morten et al, 2018). However, even travellers with pro-environmental attitudes appear to be unwilling to reduce their air travel (Barr et al, 2010; Kroesen, 2013; Davison et al, 2014). Current travel and tourism structures, including practice elements linked to societal expectations, policies, and the travel options available, encourage air travel even for trips that could be taken using other modes of transport (Dickinson et al, 2010).
The psychological literature on the links between travelling (in general) and wellbeing indicates some positive impacts of tourism on subjective wellbeing (Nawijn and Peeters, 2010; Nawijn, 2012). A recent analysis of polls of over 12,000 people and focus groups across six European countries (Hodgson, 2024) found that both flyers and non-flyers like flying, citing feelings associated with flying such as ‘excited’, ‘happy’, and ‘calm’. Though vacationing is generally positively related to happiness, the effect is unrelated to the number of trips and days spent on vacations (Nawijn, 2012: 96). However, what Nawijn (2012: 109) calls ‘involuntary green travel’ – where governments make fossil fuel-based travel more expensive in one way or other – has an adverse impact on happiness for about 6% of affected tourists, especially those with a ‘hyper-mobile’ lifestyle (Nawijn, 2012: 109). Yet this may be a temporary phenomenon as people adapt to the new circumstances (Nawijn and Peeters, 2010: 388). As Kwon and Lee (2020: 9–10) find, when considering different points in time, subjective wellbeing increases in anticipation of the trip (15 days before) only to revert to the original state about 30 days after the trip.
Since it can hardly be argued that a luxury such as leisure air travel is objectively necessary to meet fundamental needs, justification for leisure travel tends to emphasize its contribution to elements of subjective wellbeing. For example, Schmidt et al (2024) found that young, educated urbanites in Iceland use cultural and social narratives to justify frequent leisure flying, including meaningful connections with new cultures and to escape social expectations and experience anonymity and freedom. On the other hand, Cass et al (2023: 8) found that high-carbon household members from the UK used the language of needs to describe their wants, even defending the ‘recreational’ flying of those who ‘every weekend, hop in a plane… it’s not for me to tell people what their hobbies are, because you know, like, we all need them’. Overall, Cass et al (2023: 8) identified ‘discourses of entitlement’ that these high-income households used to justify their high-carbon lifestyles, including downplaying their degree of choice – ‘sometimes I have to go over there [to a foreign apartment on a tropical island]’ – and defending high-carbon lifestyles as personal choices that are unacceptable to impose limits on.
Nevertheless, there are some indications that normative changes are gradually taking place, using elements of wellbeing to argue for reducing flying. Since 2016, a flight-free movement in Sweden has actively contested the idea of holiday air travel as desirable and necessary. Ullström et al (2021) analyse seven decades of travel media to show how this ‘staying on the ground’ discourse uses storylines based on cultural elements such as living according to one’s values, the integrity of taking moral responsibility for climate harm, and enjoying climate-friendly travel, including seeking adventure closer to home (such as local wine-tasting excursions and moose safaris). The moralization of flying as ethically wrong, and the emphasis of positive alternatives, may signify a deeper normative shift whereby what constitutes ‘the good life’ is no longer based on an identity derived from travel-related consumption, but instead on living life according to one’s values (Nicholas, 2021).
Social network-related travel
Visiting family and friends is generating an increasing volume of air travel around the world, from long-term and seasonal immigrants, commuters, diasporic communities, and international students, among others. Many of their practices involving participation in family, social, or leisure-related events, caregiving, or identity affirmation are associated with flying (Janta et al, 2015). The availability of cheap flights and expansion of airport networks have made air travel a common mode of participation in these practices. Most literature on this topic focuses on immigrants or return migrants. For example, in the UK, immigrants are more likely to fly and cause higher emissions from air travel than the rest of the population, through flying to visit family and friends to maintain relationships (Mattioli and Scheiner, 2022). Ullman and Aultman-Hall (2020) find that the longer the distance between home and place of residence, the lower the frequency of visits due to cost and time constraints and, consequently, the lower the migrants’ wellbeing.
Travelling to the home country or region is mostly done to stay in touch with friends and relatives, but also – particularly for recent migrants – to fix paperwork, use healthcare services, or engage in local cultural events or traditions (Mathijsen, 2019; Mattioli and Scheiner, 2022). Maintaining social ties is directly connected to wellbeing, since mental and physical ailments, loneliness, and dissatisfaction are more often experienced by immigrants than by their local counterparts (Mansfeld, 2021; Li et al, 2022). Visiting relatives and spending time with family is sometimes done out of a sense of obligation, duty or commitment, particularly to older relatives, where the needs for participation and identity are prioritised over enjoyment and fun (Sirgy et al, 2011; Ullman and Aultman-Hall, 2020; Wojtyńska and Skaptadóttir, 2020). However, restricting contact to interactions on social media or via digital communication does not seem to replace face-to-face interactions. Reportedly, direct physical contact is required to experience the sense of intimacy and closeness associated with higher levels of need fulfillment (Wojtyńska and Skaptadóttir, 2020; Guillen-Royo, 2022). In a poll of over 12,000 Europeans, those with family abroad were more likely to say that stopping flying would make their lives worse (Hodgson, 2024).
Wedding-related practices, from bachelor and bachelorette parties to honeymoons, have also increasingly steered the demand for air travel (Randles and Mander, 2009). Bachelor parties involving air travel and one or two overnight stays have grown since the 90s, attracted by low-cost airlines and, often, price differences between origin and destination countries. While excitement, release and bonding are reported as important factors associated with a bachelor celebration in relatively remote locations, negative health and safety implications from high alcohol intake make the positive wellbeing outcome of these types of travels questionable (Thurnell-Read, 2012). Weddings are also a source of air travel; as transnational travel keeps intensifying, weddings in the country of origin of immigrants, or in destinations famous for hosting celebrity events (destination weddings), have become more common. Destination weddings can boost wellbeing by providing an escape from cultural obligations at home, such as the expectations to invite a large number of guests or adhere to specific religious or ritual requirements, and by providing the aesthetic beauty of particular locations or cultures (Rogerson and Wolfaardt, 2015; Bertella, 2017; Settheewongsakun, 2019).
Conclusion and future research
Current empirical evidence on flight-intensive practices and wellbeing
The goal of this study was to explore the relationship between flight-intensive practices and wellbeing using a social practice theory lens, ultimately to support demand-side policies aimed at reducing frequent flying while maintaining wellbeing. Overall, we found mixed evidence on the contribution of flight-intensive practices to wellbeing. Frequent flying contributed to negative impacts on physical and mental health and family relations. While claims that flying was necessary or important for wellbeing were common, especially for practices linked to leisure and visiting family and friends, it is unclear from the literature whether the positive wellbeing benefits would be reduced by replacing air travel with low-carbon transportation or by flying less.
We have identified a need for future research to explicitly study the material, social, and cultural elements shaping flight-intensive practices, both to understand how to shift away from high-carbon practices, and to understand their direct effects on wellbeing (Figure 1). The specific avenues for future research include:
- 1)Air travel and wellbeing in general. Further investigation is needed to clarify the role of emotions in the decision to reduce or quit air travel, with emotions understood both as a dimension of subjective wellbeing and as part of dispositions or embodied practices. A suggested research question is: Are the negative emotions linked to frequent travel, or to an increased awareness of flying’s negative environmental impact, necessary for voluntary reductions in air travel? Additionally, research is needed to determine whether differences in subjective and objective wellbeing exist between those who quit air travel and those who do not. Are those who quit flying happier and/or better able to fulfil their needs due to reduced travel, increased use of digital solutions, and the adoption of low-carbon alternatives? Which of these three aspects of not flying contributes the most to wellbeing? How does perceived (subjective) wellbeing differ in the short and longer term when flying is reduced? Furthermore, more studies approximating the number of flights considered avoidable by different socioeconomic and geographical groups could inform a system of taxation or quota allocation to help maintain high levels of wellbeing while flying less.
- 2)Work-related practices and wellbeing. We found that studies on business and academic air travel underline the importance of organisational cultures in shaping the amount of employee travel, via cultural expectations linking air travel with work success, despite little evidence to support this claim. Thus, we identify a gap in the literature concerning the influence of written and unwritten rules on air travel and employees’ wellbeing. We ask: To what extent are different travel policies linked to lower emissions and employees’ quality of life? Are there differences in impact for different segments of the workforce (age group, gender, work type, and so on)? The increased use of the practice of telework suggests a relatively low impact on productivity from avoiding travel. However, we identify a lack of comparative and historical studies capturing changes in productivity and employees’ wellbeing associated with flying less. Are employees in (academic) organisations who have progressively or rapidly reduced the number of flights less productive than others who have not? How does this compare with the evolution of the wellbeing of employees?
- 3)Leisure-related travel practices and wellbeing. The positive feelings and emotions associated with practices for leisure and visiting family and friends are often transferred to the mode of travel used to engage in them (Hodgson, 2024). However, we understand that social practices are shaped by values and norms inherent in the socioeconomic systems in which the practice is carried out, so further research is needed to elucidate the factors and power asymmetries that reproduce values and norms supporting leisure air travel (Wilhite, 2016). Furthermore, due to the wellbeing effect from physical contact and the longer travel times currently required for long-distance flight alternatives, it is difficult to replace flying with digital or low-carbon transport alternatives to visit distant family and friends. However, little is known about the effects on one’s wellbeing, including emotions, of using low-carbon transport to visit loved ones or vacationing locally. One study found participating in ‘sustainable digital tourism’ to provide leisure experiences (using a virtual reality experience of Disneyworld theme park) improved wellbeing (McLean et al, 2023), but more research is needed. We ask: To what extent do alternatives to flight-intensive practices in the leisure and social domains affect the wellbeing of travellers? Which groups in society (for example, immigrants or people with disabilities) would experience the greatest reduction in wellbeing if they did not have access to air travel?
In terms of policy implications, our exploration of the literature suggests we need more empirical research to understand how demand-side policies such as fuel taxes, frequent-flyer levies, quotas, or caps on the total amount of air travel affect wellbeing and for whom (Büchs and Mattioli, 2022). It is also important to understand which accompanying measures in terms of new infrastructures supporting low-carbon travel and videoconferencing, and sociocultural elements comprising norms and knowledge around ‘slow’ or less travel, are necessary to reduce the potential loss in wellbeing for some groups. Would alternative infrastructures and sociocultural arrangements supporting less travel, low-carbon transportation, and an emphasis on wellbeing for all, require the Nordic welfare model to break with the accumulation logic of capitalism?
Notes
The escalating trend was disrupted by travel restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in 2023, air traffic was only 2.3% below 2019 levels, and a full recovery was expected for 2024 (IATA, 2024a).
In 2014, in the EU 72% of the population reported not having flown in the last 12 months (European Commission, 2014).
See Eurostat, 2023a.
In our search we accounted for conceptualisations of needs that followed diverse theoretical perspectives such as autonomy and physical and mental health from Doyal and Gough (1991), or subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, idleness, creation, identity and freedom by Max-Neef (1991). We also included concepts, such as work-life balance, that link to the intermediate need for significant primary relationships, following Doyal and Gough (1991).
Of these, fieldwork is probably the task that demands co-presence the most.
Interestingly. though, Wynes et al (2019) found no evidence supporting the idea that air travel and academic output (h-index) actually are correlated.
However the number of international flights within academia is rising (Eurostat, 2023a): commercial flights in the summer are still below the 2019 level (Eurostat, 2023b). This is likely due to increasing demands of internationalisation and the rising number of European university alliances.
Funding
This work was supported by the Research Council of Norway under Grant 335291.
Acknowledgements
We are very grateful for the detailed comments of three anonymous referees, which greatly improved the manuscript. We also appreciate the support of the journal’s editorial office, particularly the suggestions and advice of Marlyne Sahakian, which helped us to increase the conciseness of the paper.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
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