ABSTRACT
At Tyndall Manchester we have developed a framework for the study of aviation as a complex production–consumption system. For this chapter we focus on the consumption side of the story. Specifically, we are interested in flying for leisure, with a particular focus on frequent flying. We have talked to people in considerable detail about the doing of flying from the perspective of the wide range of activities, events and occasions which, we find, now involve flying as a constitutive part. We find that for certain identified groups in society, flying now forms an integral part of celebrating a birthday, anniversary or retirement, taking a city break, relaxing and getting away from it all, visiting friends and family, or pursuing a special interest such as golfing or climbing. Importantly, we conclude that to understand why frequent flying – measured as the number of flights per person per year – has grown considerably in the UK, we need to understand how the norms and standards of the occasion to fly have themselves changed. This shifts attention away from the actual flight, and away from simply counting the number of journeys involving flying, to the wider context of the practices into which flying now inserts. We thus highlight the extent to which flying has become a normalized and taken for granted part of many types of occasion, event, activity or celebration, whereas previously it was not.
