NATS releases seventh edition of annual public perception survey

The UK air traffic management service, NATS has released the seventh edition of its annual Aviation Index survey of the UK public.

Each year NATS works with the research agency, Ipsos to produce an in-depth look at people’s attitudes to flying and the aviation industry.

The Index explores a range of topics, including how often people expect to fly and the impact climate change is having on their behaviour and decision making, as well as attitudes to airspace modernisation and use of the latest technology, including digital towers and electric air taxis or eVTOLs.

Now in its seventh year, the Aviation Index has consistently tracked changes in public attitudes and perceptions around some key issues impacting the industry, as well as the seismic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on UK travel and its subsequent recovery.

This year’s Aviation Index findings reveal:

• Half of the UK public has flown within the last 12 months (50%), the highest proportion since Covid, but still below the 60% recorded in 2019.
• The cost of living is the biggest barrier for people expecting to cut back on flying next year, with 42% citing expense as a reason.
• Reducing carbon emissions is the public’s top priority for the industry (53%), but is down on previous highs (70% in 2020).
• Mixed messages around people’s willingness to change their own behaviour and those already taking concrete action to help reduce the environmental impact of flights in the UK.
• There is support for changes to flight paths as part of airspace modernisation efforts (42%), especially when focusing on environmental benefits. 19% of those surveyed would oppose changes if aircraft noise impacted new residential areas.
• When asked about ‘flying taxis’, 54% of people said they would not use them, citing perceived safety (50%) and cost (56%) issues.
• A majority of the public support the use of drones for the emergency services (76%), infrastructure inspection (71%) and for deliveries (56%).

Simon Warr, NATS Communications Director, said: “Every year, we partner with the research experts at Ipsos to gauge the views of the UK public with the aim of capturing the changing trends in public opinion. We now have seven years of valuable data, all of which we share freely with the rest of the industry in the hope it will help inform decision making and identify risks and opportunities.”

A summary of the findings is available on the NATS website at nats.aero/aviation-index-2024 along with the full, tabulated results.

Notes to editors

This year’s survey was conducted online between 8-10 May. 1,220 members of the UK public aged 18+ took part in the survey. Quotas were set on age, gender, ethnicity and UK region and the final data was weighted to generate a representative sample of the UK public. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.