The applause from the landing landing continues to arouse heated discussions. A new study shows that Romanians, Bulgarians and Hungarians are among the most enthusiastic when the plane touches the track.
Some passengers applaud at the photo plane landing: Shutterstock
The custom of applauding the landing appeared in the first decades of aviation, when the flight was considered a luxury and a risk. The passengers then felt the need to express their ease and gratitude towards the crew. Today, the gesture is viewed with irony or fun, and numerous jokes about it circulate on social networks.
Who applauds the most
A survey conducted by Wizz Air, on a sample of 4,500 passengers and 150 flight attendants, has revealed strong cultural differences. Applause is more common on holiday routes in Central and Eastern Europe, where between 45% and 48% of Romanians, Hungarians and Bulgarians acknowledge that they clap at landing, informs Budapest Business Journal.
Instead, only about 30% of British, Swiss or Serbian do the same. Moreover, the frequency decreases with the flight experience: 70% of passengers flying once a year, compared to 59% of those who fly more often and only 40% of those who do over ten flights annually.
Reactions and explanations
Some passengers believe that applause is a sign of gratitude. “I traveled a lot and noticed that only the Romanians applaud. It’s a kind of pilot accreditation and the fact that we got healthy at home. It’s not bad but it’s useless“, Said a traveler for Pro TV.
Others admit that habit may seem surprising to strangers: “There were some English with us on the plane and they were shocked when they saw that the Romanians applaud, but they also applauded with us.”
Passenger motivations
Motivations differ from one region to another. In Central and Eastern Europe, 38% of respondents say that it applauds to celebrate a safe landing, while in Western Europe only 31% give this answer. In contrast, Westerners consider more applause to be a recognition of the crew’s work.
Pilots look at applause as a symbolic gesture. “Surely, passengers make this gesture as a form of appreciation. Unfortunately, these applause is not heard in the pilot cabin. We do the job, no matter how difficult the flight is ””says pilot Cătălin Prunariu.
Psychologists involved in the Mélylevegő project added another perspective: “The applause after landing are, for many, a kind of Collective relief expressing gratitude And the feeling of regaining control after being in a situation where someone else owned it. Our psyche loves the small rituals, especially those that offer both a sense of safety and community-and sometimes a round of applause is just such a micro-rest. “
A declining phenomenon
The flight attendants included in the survey have noticed that the phenomenon is increasingly rare, especially with the trivialization of the flight as a means of transport. Nearly two -thirds of them said the applause are declining, although they remain frequent among passengers in Romania, Albania and Italy.
