Factors affecting environmental practice adoption at small European airports: An investigation

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Factors affecting environmental practice adoption at small European airports: An investigation

Harley, Grace / Timmis, Andrew / Budd, Lucy

Highlights • Examines the adoption of environmental practices (EPs) by small European airports handling under 5 m passengers a year. • TOE framework is used as the basis for an online survey of over 400 airports. • Airports are classified into 3 groups according to their level of EP engagement. • Relative size of small airports as well as other variables affects the extent of EP adoption. • Scope for greater EP adoption exists and recommendations for policy and practice are offered.

Abstract The majority of the world’s 3759 commercial airports handle under 5 million passengers a year and these small airports rarely employ practices to address their environmental externalities. The aim of this research is to investigate the range of environmental practices (EPs) that are employed at small European airports and identify the factors which affect their adoption. The findings of an online survey of 413 small airports in the European Common Aviation Area reveal that the EPs most commonly adopted concern waste management and noise reduction. Privately owned airports were generally more engaged with EPs than publicly owned ones. Consumer pressure, regulatory intervention, and airport size positively affected the adoption of environmental practices whereas complexity, perceived relative advantage and human resource constraints acted as barriers to adoption. The paper concludes with recommendations for policy and practice to support EP engagement and reduce the environmental impact of small airport operations worldwide.