Flight Shaming Puts a Dent in European Travel

To celebrate raising $460 million in new capital, finance startup Klarna Bank AB invited 600 staffers from its Stockholm headquarters to Berlin for a party in September. But instead of heading to the airport for the 90-minute hop to the German capital, the programmers, managers, and salespeople showed up at Stockholm’s Central Station for a 15-hour schlep by train and bus. The company, which offers online payment services, bars virtually all employee air travel within Europe and discourages longer-distance flights. “It’s our aim to become carbon neutral,” says Robert Bueninck, chief of Klarna’s business in Germany, who frequently rides the rails on business trips to Brussels, London, and elsewhere. “We know what’s happening to our planet.”

Like Klarna, companies across Europe are reconsidering travel policies, and individuals are asking whether jetting off to sunny spots for holidays is worth the environmental cost. The Swedes even have a name for it: flygskam, or flight shame, and it’s a growing threat to airlines in Europe and beyond. SAS AB says its traffic fell 2% in the nine months ended July 30 from the year-earlier period, and Sweden’s airport operator has handled 9% fewer passengers for domestic flights this year than last. Both say flygskam has played a role in declining traffic. “Unchallenged, this antiflying sentiment will grow and spread,” says Alexandre de Juniac, head of the International Air Transport Association. “Politicians aren’t sticking up for us.”