Assessing U.S. Travelers’ Trade-offs for Aviation Safety Objectives: A Natural Experiment

Abstract

Understanding air travelers’ values for aviation safety is essential to design effective and well-accepted security measures. This study investigates changes in U.S. travelers trade-offs for passenger screening objectives using the occurrence of an international aviation incident (loss of Malaysian Airline Flight 370) as a natural experiment. We also examine how alternative screening procedures affect trade-offs between equity and safety concerns. Results show evidence for an enduring effect of the aviation incident on trade-offs between safety and other passenger screening objectives. Additionally, the use of different procedures to select high-risk passengers for enhanced screening altered the relative importance of the equity objective. Implications for the design of future airport security policies are discussed.