Nordic Countries have taken a strong initiative to become forerunners in sustainable aviation. One pathway to a greener future of aviation is the use of electric aircraft, meaning airplanes powered by battery-operated electric engines.

Aviation stakeholders anticipate that electric aircraft will start operations on regional Nordic routes earliest from 2026 onwards. Electric aircraft will enable better regional connectivity, but they will also introduce some changes to the customer journeys. The biggest changes include flights from smaller regional airports, more frequent flight schedules, and passengers having to travel light due to limited space for baggage.

This thesis aimed to find out what motivates and demotivates the residents of Finland to choose electric aviation over aviation powered by fossil fuels and what is the passenger readiness to adapt to the aforementioned changes in their customer journey.

The scope was limited to the Finnish residents’ attitudes towards regional electric aviation, as electric airplanes will initially operate on the shortest regional routes up to 400 kilometres.

A single case study was chosen as the research design and semi-structured interviews as the data collection method. The interviewees were selected using purposive sampling to enable diverse opinions and views on the subject of study.

Data collection was conducted during September-October 2021. The diverse group of 11 interviewees ranged from 23 to 55 in age, 55% being females and 45% males. 5 interviewees were from the metropolitan area and 6 from other parts of Finland.

Knowledge of electric aviation turned out to be limited as 5 out of 11 interviewees did not know about it before the interview. Interviewees saw electric aviation as just another transportation mode among others, despite its’ clear environmental advantages. To build their trust towards this new travel mode, 9 out of 11 interviewees wanted to learn more about the technological and safety aspects of electric airplanes. Although interviewees insisted on their willingness to make compromises to fly “greener’”, their answers revealed that pricing, practicality, and convenience of travel nevertheless win over environmental benefits. The interviewees considered traveling light on short distances convenient, welcomed smaller airports for a smoother airport experience, and had positive attitudes towards more frequent flight schedules between smaller cities, but only if compatible with people’s timing-related needs as the current hub and spoke model seldom seems to serve the needs of those living outside the metropolitan area.