Virgin Atlantic used psychological tricks to reduce pilots’ fuel use

Washington Post : In 2014 Virgin Atlantic performed an experiment to see what the company could do to encourage pilots to change their behavior to save fuel. Virgin randomly split all its pilots into four groups. Members of the control group were told only that they were involved in a study of fuel use. A second group was given monthly assessments of fuel conservation efforts. The third group was given the same assessments along with conservation targets, with praise for success and encouragement if the pilots failed to meet the target. In the fourth group pilots received the same conservation targets, and the company also made a £10 per month donation to a charity of choice for those who met their targets. Virgin found that all the groups, even the control group, saw decreases in fuel consumption, with the three non-control groups having even higher savings in fuel. The two groups with performance targets had equal consumption decreases and bested the group without performance targets. The group for which the company was making donations reported higher job satisfaction. For all of 2014, the experiment saved the airline 6828 tons of fuel.