Abstract:
There is a growing need for airline companies to address the impact they have on the
environment. Airline companies play an essential role as enabler of global trade, and drive
growth in the transportation industry. There is however public and political pressure on
airline companies to reduce their overall carbon emissions, while at the same time
continuing to meet the demands and expectations of international travel.
This creates the theoretical relevance for this research, where an exploratory approach is
taken in order to gain a better understanding of how incumbent airline companies can
implement a sustainable business model innovation process. The study aims to
understand the challenges airline companies would face, tools that could help them
achieve SBMI, the outcomes that would result from SBMI, and finally the potential
implementation tools to utilise in the process.
This research was qualitative and followed an exploratory method to address the research
questions proposed. The research design was in the form of a case study, and data was
gathered from eight participants as primary data in combination with four industry reports
as secondary data. The data was then analysed thematically.
The research concludes with a conceptual framework that aims to provide airline
companies with a better understanding of how to implement the SBMI process. The
outcomes of the research also added new insights as a potential refinement to literature.
