Regional Airports Research Articles

Optimization of Air Logistics Transport Network of YTO Express

In order to improve the overall level and long-term development of YTO Express, according to the development strategy and planning of YTO Express logistics, this paper puts forward the construction of Hub-and-Spoke air logistics transport network with core hub airport, and optimizes YTO Express transport network. Firstly, the cluster analysis function of SPSS is used to divide the region of the air node, and then the center of gravity method is used to select the regional hub point, and the core hub airport and the regional hub airport are determined, so as to design the final transport network, which is conducive to the sustainable development of YTO Express, and improve the proportion of YTO Express in the air field.

How new airport infrastructure promotes tourism: evidence from a synthetic control approach in German regions

ABSTRACT The paper examines how new airport infrastructure influences regional tourism. Identification is based on the conversion of a military airbase into a regional commercial airport in the German state of Bavaria. The new airport opened in 2007 and promotes travelling to the touristic region of Allgäu in the Bavarian Alps. A synthetic control approach is used to show that the new commercial airport increased tourism in the Allgäu region over the period 2008–16. The positive effect is especially pronounced in the county in which the airport is located. The results suggest that new transportation infrastructure promotes regional economic development.

Optimizing airport infrastructure for a country: The case of Greenland

In November 2018, the Greenlandic Parliament decided to extend the runways at two cities, Nuuk and Ilulissat, making them the main airports for international air traffic and to build a third regional airport. The decision is the result of 40 years’ discussion, which is outlined in the paper.The paper places the final decision in a theoretical framework of Greenland as a peripheral and very remote country for which air travel is the only way of mobility. Literature from the latest ten years shows that improvement in air travel can contribute to economic development. On the other hand, the investment in the new airports is economically risky considered the small size of the economy. The paper therefore uses cost benefit analyses (CBA) to assess if the decision is cost-effective even without the induced and wider economic effects of the new airports, which are difficult to forecast.Based on several CBA developed over the years, the decision on the airport package seems to be cost-effective in case some of the induced effects are taken into account. For the capital Nuuk, the decision is clearly cost-effective without including induced effects. For Ilulissat, the effect depends on to what extent an airline is willing to follow up and establish a new direct connection from Europe or the American east coast. Therefore, airport authorities are also recommended to ‘sell’ the new airports to airlines.During the 40-year long process of discussion, the authors’ institute was 15 years ago asked to develop an optimization model for air traffic in Greenland. This model (the TGB model) is described in the paper and it is concluded that it would be possible to improve the network and save annual subsidies to the internal service traffic (PSO). Unfortunately, the model was never implemented. The authors recommend to update and improve the model that is currently outdated and to use it to optimize the network when the new airports are finished.

An Agent-Based Empirical Game Theory Approach for Airport Security Patrols

Airports are attractive targets for terrorists, as they are designed to accommodate and process large amounts of people, resulting in a high concentration of potential victims. A popular method to mitigate the risk of terrorist attacks is through security patrols, but resources are often limited. Game theory is commonly used as a methodology to find optimal patrol routes for security agents such that security risks are minimized. However, game-theoretic models suffer from payoff uncertainty and often rely solely on expert assessment to estimate game payoffs. Experts cannot incorporate all aspects of a terrorist attack in their assessment. For instance, attacker behavior, which contributes to the game payoff rewards, is hard to estimate precisely. To address this shortcoming, we proposed a novel empirical game theory approach in which payoffs are estimated using agent-based modeling. Using this approach, we simulated different attacker and defender strategies in an agent-based model to estimate game-theoretic payoffs, while a security game was used to find optimal security patrols. We performed a case study at a regional airport, and show that the optimal security patrol is non-deterministic and gives special emphasis to high-impact areas, such as the security checkpoint. The found security patrol routes are an improvement over previously found security strategies of the same case study.

Modelling regional accessibility to airports using discrete choice models: An application to a system of regional airports

Abstract In this paper, we analyse residents' decisions regarding airport access mode in Apulia, a relatively peripheral multi-airport region in Italy. Both revealed and stated preferences data are used to estimate probabilistic demand models. The results are employed to calculate the relevant elasticities, separately for airport users and non-users, with respect to dedicated existing and planned/potential public transport services. We measure the effectiveness of specific policies/actions aimed at generating a shift from private modes (car and taxi) towards public transport, rationalising mobility towards the existing airports. Accessibility is one of the key factors in airports' provision, and an efficient public transport system might represent both an alternative to opening “local” – often costly and inefficient – airports in the same catchment area and a means to exploit economies of scale aggregating demand for existing airports.

Breakeven Passenger Traffic for Regional Indian Airports

Most of the regional airports in India are financially unsustainable because of low and fluctuating passenger traffic. Despite double digit passenger traffic growth since past four years, most regional Indian airports are yet to achieve financial sustainability due to high fixed operating costs and low non-aeronautical revenue. The Indian government is putting special emphasis on regional air connectivity through UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme. However, it is difficult to ascertain whether such schemes can ensure airport profitability. This paper attempts to find the operating breakeven point in terms of annual passenger traffic for 27 regional airports over a period of three years from 2014-15 to 2016-17. The method used is simple linear regression of operating revenue and operating cost with passenger traffic. The method as well as findings have been corroborated with relevant literature. The breakeven point changes 0.8 million passengers in 2014-15 to 0.6 million passengers in 2016-17. Most regional airports in the sample have more than 0.5 million passengers per annum and this paves way for smaller and upcoming airports looking for incentive schemes to attract airlines.

DEVELOPING INDICATORS FOR CAPTURING THE AIRPORTS DYNAMICS IN REGIONAL AND TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: EVIDENCE FROM GREECE

Air transport is an aspect of the transportation and communication sector, it is a capital and technology intensive component of the national economies, and it plays an important role in communication and trade, in tourism development, and generally in the economic and regional development. The major role of air transport in the support of distant communication makes it a valuable tool for the strategic planning and innovative marketing in tourism, especially for tourism policies addressed to international markets. Within this context, this paper studies air transport in Greece and particularly the regional dimension of the Greek air transport, by excluding the metropolitan airports of Athens and Thessaloniki. The paper examines the factors that determine the attractiveness of the Greek regional airports on data referring to air traffic statistics and on available spatial and tourism information. For measuring the dynamics of the regional airports in Greece in regional development, the paper introduces a composite index, which computes passenger-traffic change between time periods by considering an airports’ classification. Next, for measuring the airport dynamics in tourism development, an index is introduced in terms of the international arrivals and overnights per region. The results of applying the proposed indices comply with the observations of the common practice and they seem sufficient to be used in other areas of application. The overall approach provides a novel measure for air transport studies and it illustrates the contribution of the small and regional airports to tourism and regional development in Greece.

A magyar regionális repülőterek fejlődése nemzetközi összehasonlításban

Az Európai Unióban a polgári és a katonai repülés fejlesztése kiemelt célkitűzés. Az európai kormányok kiemelt módon támogatják a repülőtéri infrastruktúrák fejlesztésére irányuló befektetéseket tekintettel azok egyre növekvő szerepére az egyes régiók iparának és turizmusának fejlesztésében és védelmében, végső soron az ország gazdasági fejlődésében. Magyarországon, a regionális repülőtereinken az utas- és áruforgalom jelenleg még alacsony szinten folyik, de jelentős növekedés remélhető a jövőben az erre vonatkozó nemzetközi trendek alapján, különösen az üzleti célú és az alacsony költségvetésű repülőgépek egyre növekvő ütemű elterjedésével. A legtöbb európai uniós országban a regionális repülőterek fejlesztése kulcsszerepet játszik az egyes régiók és az ország fejlesztésében.

Research on the use of low-cost carriers and regional airports

Research on the use of low-cost carriers and regional airports

A horvát regionális repülőterek működésének és fejlesztésének főbb jellegzetességei

E tanulmány legfőbb célja az, hogy megvizsgálja, Horvátország hol tart jelenleg a légi forgalom fejlesztésében. Milyen tényezők játszanak leginkább szerepet a horvát regionális repülőterek fejlődésében? Hogyan változott a horvát regionális repülőterek forgalma az elmúlt években? Milyen szerepet játszottak a regionális repülőterek ugrásszerű fejlődésében az alacsony költségvetésű légitársaságok? Milyen sarokpontjai vannak a horvát légiközlekedés-fejlesztési stratégiának? Melyik horvát repülőterek forgalma nőtt kiugróan és melyeké kevésbé? Igaz-e, hogy egyes horvát regionális repülőterek forgalma mára már jóval meghaladja vonzáskörzetük, gyűjtőterületük nagyságát?

Sustainable Development of International Flights to Regional Airports Mainly Used by Foreign Tourists

Sustainable Development of International Flights to Regional Airports Mainly Used by Foreign Tourists

Income statement as an assessment tool of an airport operator: A case study of Polish airports

Objective: This article aims to show the characteristics of airport finances and its implications for operational management. It presents comparative case study analysis and tools to evaluate income statement data as a basis for assessment of the financial condition of an airport operator. Research Design & Methods: The paper is divided into three parts. The first one focuses on the characteristics of airports’ typical revenue structure and is operational consequences to the managerial board. It is discussed how to resolve infrastructure bottleneck problems with financial techniques. The second part is devoted to the operational cost analysis with an attempt to check whether popular hypotheses concerning airports’ finance specifics apply to Polish regional airports. The analysis examines the elasticity of fixed costs regarding the number of passengers served. The last part of this paper contains a break-even point analysis of Polish regional airport as a benchmarking tool of comparative analysis. Findings: An analysis of costs at Polish airports was carried out confirming the thesis about a very high share of fixed costs in the total operating costs of aviation activities and its small elasticity regarding number of passengers served. Profitability thresholds at Polish airports were examined, confirming the thesis that profitability is usually achieved after exceeding the 1 mln number of passengers served annually. This number corresponds to annual revenues of about PLN 50 million. Contribution & Value Added: Investigation of the measures and determinants of airports finance characteristics gives insight into the relationship between infrastructure throughput and break-even point.

Концесія як форма інвестування діяльності регіональних аеропортів України

Концесія як форма інвестування діяльності регіональних аеропортів України

Accessibility of Polish Regional Airports for Potential Passengers as a Result of the Development of Airport Links

The demand for air transport services in the world has been growing for many years. In Polish airports, air traffic has increased sharply in the last 10 years. This is related to Poland’s accession to the European Union and formal facilitations regarding crossing borders. In addition, many financial resources have been invested in Poland, coming largely from the European Union funds. In addition, low-cost carriers appeared on the Polish market. Thus, the availability of air transport for the average Polish passenger has increased.The article will describe the concept of accessibility in relation to air transport and changes in demand for air transport services in Poland in 2007-2018. This is, in the authors’ opinion, the main determinant of the development of the airport links system.The authors then will analyze the airport links systems with regard to the distance between the city and the airport. The basis for the analysis will be the authors ‘own research based on the analysis of publicly available data from carriers’ websites. This will be complemented by the analysis of airport links from the point of view of passengers. Studies carried out by D. Tłoczyński in 2013 will be used.Such a system will allow to assess the airport links system in Poland, including its influence on increasing access to Polish Regional Airport for potential passengers..

Compensation due to land use restrictions: the case of limited use area in the vicinity of Polish airports

Research background: The economic benefits that arise with the development of airport infrastructure are accompanied by negative externalities. Legal, technical and institutional instruments are used to mitigate or limit these effects. It involves state intervention in the use of real estate located in the vicinity of the airport, and the cost of such an intervention. On the other hand, as a result of state interventions, real estate market mechanisms are distorted. The balance on the market, prices and as a result the number of transactions is changing.
 Purpose of the article: The study evaluates adaptive efficiency, which is known as the ability of the real estate market system to adapt to the purpose of public intervention. The effectiveness of state intervention is measured as the difference between market transaction costs and costs after intervention. The former means the full coverage of all individual claims of property owners at market prices. However, after the intervention, these are costs of compensation and litigation (judicial, expert opinions, provisions for payment of damages), as well as the risk of the airport's insolvency. The state intervention system is also assessed through the prism of the lack of a methodology for assessing damages and subjective claims of property owners. The article focuses on the effects of the negative impact of airport noise resulting in limitations to residential buildings? usability and depreciation of their market value. The study is based on the example of one regional airport.
 Methods: The study evaluates the current compensation model related to the introduction of Limited Land Use Areas around airports in Poland, based on Poznan-Lawica airport case study. In the empirical part of the paper, we use regression analysis to examine the value of compensations for loss of property value ruled by courts, and duration analysis to explore court procedure duration time.
 Findings & Value added: This research is one of the important basic research on socio-spatial connection near an airport in Poland. We argue that the current prac-tice related to compensation ruled by courts has substantial flaws (including the methodical error regarding the valuation of claims, where acoustic damage and value loss claims are treated as unrelated, thus both compensations are independently assessed). With the help of the Cox model, we demonstrate that the long distance from the airport and the location within the LUA increase the likelihood of court proceedings ending. The results are important due to the pending disputes and the costs threatening the functioning of airports in Poland.

Large Projects in Light of Oman's Diversification Strategy: the Case of Special Economic Zone in Duqm

The Special Economic Zone Duqm (SEZD) in Oman is the largest special economic zone in the Middle East and North Africa Region allowing it to host various big projects. To ensure that the area is fit for a wide number of business activities to meet the needs of investors, area is divided into eight main areas: the heavy-medium and light industries complex, the port, the ship dry dock, the oil refinery, the tourism area, the logistic services area, the regional airport, and the residential/commercial area. SEZD has many competitive advantages to be a logistic and marine hub for Arab countries outside Strait of Hormuz. It is a hub for advanced petrochemical industry, manufacturing industry, fish industry and aquaculture projects, logistics services, educational institutions and tourism. For those seeking peace of mind and tranquility, Duqm is an ideal destination where it combines the natural beauty of the region and the modest climate around the year. SEZD provides many incentives for investors such as: exemption from profit tax for up to 30 years and renewable for similar period, 100% freehold by foreigners, easy recruitment of manpower, and imports of raw materials into the zone are tax-free. These facilities and incentives give SEZD a competitive advantage. SEZD is an ideal example of an integrated economic development zone. Government of Oman is trying to achieve the following national objectives from establishing such economic zone: first, economic diversification; second, sustainable economic growth; third, securing job opportunities; fourth, balancing Oman’s regional development; finally, increase private sector contribution to GDP.

Modeling and solving a bi-objective airport slot scheduling problem

The strategic airport slot allocation problem concerns the scheduling of airlines’ requests for landings and take-offs at congested airports for a series of days within a given scheduling season. Relevant scheduling models dealing with the strategic airport slot allocation problem have employed various combinations of the total schedule displacement criterion with several variations of acceptability metrics. However, most variations of schedule displacement pursued in existing literature do not thoroughly capture the real-world scheduling practice, and, most importantly, do not guarantee the allocation of acceptable/tolerable or viable displacement among competing airlines’ slot requests. In this paper, we propose the formulation of the strategic airport slot allocation problem as a bi-objective resource constrained project scheduling problem with partially renewable resources and non-regular objective functions. We employ two non-regular performance criteria: (i) the total earliness-tardiness and (ii) a dispersion measure aiming to alleviate over-displaced requests. Α novel hybrid heuristic algorithm integrating the Objective Feasibility Pump (FP) algorithm with the Large Neighborhood Search technique (LNS) is proposed. We generate a set of new problem instances originating from the patterns of a data set of actual slot requests for a Greek Regional Airport (GRA) to assess the performance of the algorithm. The computational results indicate that the proposed algorithm is reasonably accurate, and it has the capability to approximate the entire efficient frontier of the problem.

Slovak Airports As Profit/Loss Making Entities: Consequences For Transport Policies

Regional airports in the European Union have been studied in several papers so far, however, not delivering a lot of knowledge of airports as profit/loss making entities. In the paper, we focus on the Slovak airports which are typical representatives of regional airports in the EU. As there is the knowledge gap in the field of airports in newer member countries of the EU, we explain the specific socio-economic context of the airports in the Slovak Republic against a background of their financial ratios. Our findings are suggestive of the need to set a clear dividing line and interface between national airport policies of member countries of the EU and the EU common airport policy.

A Study on the Use of Regional Airport Terminal as a Local Community Hub

A Study on the Use of Regional Airport Terminal as a Local Community Hub

Alternatives for airport management in Brazil

Purpose This paper aims to answer the following question: Is PPP a financially viable alternative for the management of regional airports in Brazil? Design/methodology/approach The methodology is based on the case study of the innovative model of Zona da Mata Regional Airport management. It was used Value for Money as a method to compare this case with the conventional airport management alternative. Findings It was observed that, when compared to the airport management alternative through contracting third parties, the public–private partnership (PPP) provided a reduction of almost 70% of public spending on the management of this infrastructure. Besides the financial advantage, other benefits of this PPP contract were also observed. Research limitations/implications The analyses carried out in this study are not exhaustive and can be improved and remade as the life cycle of the PPP contract studied is progressed. Practical implications It was concluded, from the results found, that PPP is an efficient alternative for the management of regional airports in Brazil, and the model can be replicated for similar airports. Originality/value When analyzing the results of this innovative project of managing a regional airport through a PPP, this work made it possible to measure the positive impacts of this alternative and demonstrate the potential of the PPP as an alternative for the management of other regional airports in Brazil.