Defining Standard of Access to Domestic Air Travel

Abstract

Transport systems, in particular civil aviation, occupy an important place in development of any modern state. The effective design of such systems has a positive impact on the socio­economic component of any country. The quality of the transport system can be assessed through the population’s access to it. At present, one of the important problems of long-term development of the air transport system of the Russian Federation is definition of a universal indicator that allows assessing access to transport and its possible target standard.The article proposes an approach for assessing access to air travel using mathematical modelling. Two indicators are used as a criterion: a potential number of passengers in the gravitation zones of each airport and a passenger’s time being in the system. A methodology for determining the proposed indicators has been developed. The application of the approach of assessment of access to air travel is demonstrated on the 2019 network.An example of a target (simulated) network of domestic passenger air transportation is also given, which allows to significantly increase access to air travel. Based on the results obtained, the paper proposes target standards for the values of access to air travel for the Russian Federation.