The Perception of Travel Agents as to Passenger Acceptance of the High Speed Civil Transport in Commercial Airline Service: A Study of Tomorrow\u27s Transpacific Air Travel
Through a cooperative effort between NASA, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, Douglas Aircraft Company, GE Aircraft Engines, and Pratt & Whitney, technology for a new-generation supersonic transport aircraft is being developed. To determine if air travelers will choose this aircraft, the High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT), as their mode of air transportation on transpacific routes, a self-developed questionnaire was sent to randomly selected travel agents in the Los Angeles, California area. The questionnaire examined criteria that passengers use to select transpacific flights, including fare, schedule, flight time length, and comfort. Results indicated that all passengers will be attracted to supersonic air service because of the reduction in travel time. Business and wealthy leisure passengers will be willing to pay a fare surcharge of up to 30% over subsonic fares for supersonic service. Price-conscious leisure passengers will only use supersonic transportation if the cost is the same as competing subsonic service
