The London Luton Airport Sustainable Surface Access Staff Mode Shift project aims to transform how employees commute by promoting sustainable travel options through innovative data collection and AI-driven behavioural insights. The project is a collaborative effort between London Luton Airport and a team of academics and consultants.
“It’s an exciting opportunity to test AI’s potential in driving real change in travel behaviours, not only for our airport but for the wider industry,” says Andy Martin, Surface Access Development Manager at London Luton Airport.
The collaboration began when Andy, new to the airport sector but an experienced transport planner, noticed a LinkedIn post about the FTVG project. He presented his vision for sustainable travel solutions at an FTVG workshop, capturing the interest of experts from Bare Analysis and Geppetto Consulting. This shared vision led to a diverse and skilled project team.
“Armed with nothing but a (seemingly!) good idea, we pitched the concept, and before long, a project team was born,” recalls Joshua Hooley, Sustainable Travel Plan Coordinator at London Luton Airport.
With each member contributing unique expertise—from data analytics and behavioural research to sustainable travel coordination—the team is well-equipped to tackle the complex challenges of reducing carbon emissions and enhancing job accessibility through sustainable commuting.
London Luton Airport serves as the project’s testbed, with an ambitious goal to increase the share of sustainable travel among its staff from 21% to 35% by 2028. This shift is essential for reducing Scope 3 emissions, increasing local job accessibility, and mitigating surface access issues related to the airport’s potential expansion.
“We’re pioneering an approach that integrates deep ethnographic insights with AI capabilities to learn from the complex context of the airport environment,” explains Dr. Felicity Heathcote-Marcz, Director of Bare Analysis.
By leveraging AI to analyse both qualitative and quantitative data, the team aims to deliver highly personalised, actionable prompts that encourage sustainable travel choices, ultimately offering a replicable model for the broader transport sector.
Beyond its local impact, this project has the potential to inform sustainable transport planning nationwide, demonstrating the feasibility of using AI to incorporate nuanced, context-driven data into travel planning systems. If successful, the project’s approach could become a model for developers, local authorities, and transport planners across the UK.
The project will begin with an in-depth analysis of current surface access travel behaviours among all London Luton Airport staff, including those employed by third-party organisations. Initially, the team will conduct a desktop review of existing data to understand current travel patterns and identify the primary factors influencing these behaviours. This analysis will set the foundation for a new staff travel survey, to be launched in the summer of 2024, aimed at capturing up-to-date data on employee commuting habits.
In parallel, the project will undertake extensive stakeholder engagement, benchmarking best practices by comparing results with other airports. Ethnographic research will form a critical component of this phase, involving in-context interviews and shadowing of representative staff members at the airport.
“Our aim is to gain a rich, qualitative understanding of the travel challenges faced by various staff demographics,” says Dr. Nima Dadashzadeh from the University of Huddersfield
Observations at key transport hubs and access points will further inform the AI’s ability to interpret complex behaviours and respond with precise, sustainable travel recommendations.
The analysis of these ethnographic findings will feed into an AI workshop designed to generate practical outputs. During this workshop, the team will explore how the qualitative insights and survey data can shape AI algorithms to deliver personalised, sustainable travel nudges. The workshop will culminate in the development of prototype tools that encourage behavioural change, such as tailored recommendations for low-emission commuting options.
In its final phase, the project will compile a comprehensive presentation, including a slide deck and video content, to convey its findings and AI-driven concepts to key stakeholders, including the FTVG and London Luton Airport’s Steering Group.
“Our goal is to secure the investment needed to advance these ideas and drive real change in surface access sustainability,” says Andrew Longman, an AI consultant, “It seeks to establish a model for targeted behavioural nudges that encourage staff to switch to more sustainable modes of transport.”
By demonstrating how AI can enhance sustainable travel initiatives, the project hopes to lay the groundwork for industry-wide adoption of similar strategies, enabling scalable and efficient sustainable transport solutions.
This project exemplifies how data-driven insights and innovative technology can converge to address pressing challenges in sustainable transport. Through this initiative, London Luton Airport and its partners aim to foster a long-term culture of sustainable travel, paving the way for smarter, greener infrastructure in the aviation sector and beyond.