Chapter 8 - The Option of Self-Connection

Abstract

Self-connectivity is a practice when passengers travel with a combination of tickets where the airline(s) involved do not handle the transfer themselves. Leisure travellers are expected to be one of the segments of demand most likely to build their own travel itineraries with self-connections in order to save in air fares. Thus the few European airports that recently started to facilitate this type of travel are heavily focusing the marketing efforts towards holiday routes. This chapter investigates the implications of this new business strategy from the perspective of the destination airports using data on European holiday markets in the Mediterranean region. Using an analysis of potential self-connectivity based on global airline schedules and passenger booking data, the destination airports are ranked according to the potential benefits from self-connectivity by tapping into new origin markets to which they are not connected in the traditional sense. The results from this chapter have important managerial implications with regards to how airports serving tourist destinations can identify new market opportunities.