Impact of an Innovative Quiet Regional Aircraft on the Air Transportation System

Abstract

In this paper, requirements for a new aircraft designed for the regional market are presented. The design is mainly driven to fulfill the needs of the next-generation air transportation system. Today, Europe's major hubs have already reached the limit of their capacity. To facilitate the predicted growth rate of air transportation, smaller regional airports have to be integrated into the current airport network. To analyze the impact on the air transportation system, a numerical model is presented that allocates potential passengers from their place of origin to their most likely airport of choice. This passenger allocation model is used to predict future airport's growth rates and possible capacity shortages for given airport scenarios and helps to investigate the influence of the integration of new airports and a new aircraft concept into the current air transportation system. The simulation presented in this paper is based on the German airport network, but it can be easily adapted to any other national or international scenario. Requirements for an aircraft serving such smaller regional airports are directly derived from this simulation.