Passenger choice decisions at a regional airport in South Africa

Gert Heyns,Stephen Carstens

doi:10.4102/jtscm.v5i1.73

Gert Heyns, Stephen Carstens

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4102/jtscm.v5i1.73

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Abstract

The choices made by departing air transportation passengers from multiple airport regions impact on the strategies of competing airlines, airport operators and planners and local authorities. For these stakeholders it is important to understand which determinants influence passenger decision-making. The purpose of this article is to determine the main factors which influence airport choice decisions at a regional airport in the Greater Johannesburg area in South Africa.

Highlights

The Greater Johannesburg region, situated in the Gauteng province of South Africa, has one major international airport, OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA) and a number of smaller regional airports
ORTIA provides a mixture of long- and short-haul services and is served by a combination of full-service scheduled carriers and low-cost carriers (LCCs).ORTIA is owned by the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) which is majority owned by the South African Government
The level of the impact depends on a number of factors such as the number of passengers, the available capacities at the airports, etc. This phenomenon is not specific to South Africa and globally airlines and airport operators face the same challenges to understand which factors influence passengers’ decisionmaking process in airport choice.The decision of a passenger to use an alternative airport depends on various factors and the objective of this study is to identify the most important factors that passengers take into account in their decision to use either ORTIA or Lanseria International Airport (LIA)

Summary

Introduction

The Greater Johannesburg region, situated in the Gauteng province of South Africa, has one major international airport, OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA) and a number of smaller regional airports. LIA on the other hand, is privately owned and is served by charter airlines and LCCs. many variants exist, LCCs are typically characterised by service features such as simplified, single-class services with high density seating and no free in-flight services such as food and drinks.In many markets LCCs operate from underutilised secondary airports which allows for operational costs savings associated with faster aircraft turnarounds and lower airport charges (Pels, Njegovan & Behrens, 2009). LCCs are typically characterised by service features such as simplified, single-class services with high density seating and no free in-flight services such as food and drinks.In many markets LCCs operate from underutilised secondary airports which allows for operational costs savings associated with faster aircraft turnarounds and lower airport charges (Pels, Njegovan & Behrens, 2009) These secondary airports are located some distance from the Central Business District (CBD) and main city airport. LIA is situated west of Johannesburg and is approximately 55 km from ORTIA, which is located to the east of the city

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