Analysing and modelling some effects of solutions for matching the airport runway system capacity to demand

The paper deals with analysing and modelling some effects of three solutions for matching the airport runway system (landing) capacity to corresponding demand. These are: i) charging congestion applied to the NY LaGuardia airport (New York, USA); ii) deployment of the innovative operational procedures supported by the new technologies developing in the scope of European SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) and U.S. NextGen (Next Generation) program applied to the system of two closely-spaced parallel runways at Dubai International airport (Dubai, UAE (United Arab Emirates)); and iii) building the new additional runway(s) applied to the runway system of three London airports - Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stansted (London, UK).The results have shown that each of the considered solutions can contribute to more efficient and effective matching of the airport runway (landing) capacity to the current and expected (prospectively growing) airside demand under given (specified) conditions.     

Predicting the loss of commuter air service in the United States

This paper looks at the probability of loss of commuter air service in the United States. Logistic regression using a model consisting of geographic, economic, and social variables is constructed to examine those communities in the United States that are in danger of losing commercial air service. After modeling the loss of service, patterns are discovered as to the location of these communities. The paper concludes with analysis of those cities targeted for loss of service and solutions for what these communities can do to continue to be part of the commercial air system.     

Evaluating financial performance of commercial service airports in the United States

Studies on airport performance have focused primarily on productivity and operational efficiency. There are very few studies on airports’ financial viability and strength, especially those in the United States. Most of the U.S. commercial service airports are government-owned entities and operated for the service of the community rather than for profit, but expected to be financially self-sufficient and raise capital funds mainly through the bond markets. However, past studies of the financial performance of U.S. airports have relied on traditional profitability measures and financial efficiency measures that are more appropriate for airports owned and operated by for-profit entities. Based on the literature for non-profit organizations and the practices of credit rating agencies and government oversight bodies, this paper adopts six pertinent financial performance metrics to measure and compare the operational financial performance, leverage, and liquidity of 60 large and medium commercial service airports in the United States during the 2010–2017 period. The paper further examines factors that may affect airport financial performance. The results reveal that large hub airports have better liquidity while medium airports have better leverage during the study period. These results suggest that the effect of airport size on financial performance is inconclusive. Regression analysis shows that airports with high productive efficiency and those without a dominant carrier tend to have more surplus revenues for meeting their operational financial needs and capital spending and have better liquidity. The paper highlights the importance of using appropriate metrics to evaluate the financial performance of public sector entities and provides relevant information to bond investors. The devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on airports accentuate the significance of leverage and liquidity. Therefore, the financial metrics discussed in this paper would help support public policy debates and allocate public funds to the airports.     

A ticket to ride: Evolving landscapes of air travel accessibility in the United States

During the past decade, air passenger service in the United States has been exposed to numerous carrier bankruptcies, antitrust investigations, mergers, labor problems and a massive increase in competition. These internal elements, combined with the rising costs of fuel and the threat of terrorism combine to make a relatively uncertain air travel landscape for both passengers and operators. Moreover, these dynamics have generated significant geographical shifts in airline route structures and airports serviced by commercial carriers. These factors, combined with increasing levels of consumer access to fare and routing information, have altered the landscape of air travel accessibility in the United States. The purpose of this paper is to examine issues of consumer air travel accessibility through an analysis of three critical measures: flight segments, flight time and ticket costs. In addition, a typology of air passenger accessibility is generated for the 156 busiest commercial airports in the United States using these three measures. Results suggest significant local and regional biases in time and cost, relative to distance, for many US markets.     

Congestion analysis of waterborne, containerized imports from Asia to the United States

A queuing model is introduced for estimating container flow times through port terminals as a function of infrastructure, staffing, and import volume. The model is statistically calibrated on industry data. Flow-time estimates of the model are aggregated with estimates from models previously developed for rail networks to develop estimates of the total container flow times from West Coast ports to inland distribution centers. Integrated with a supply-chain optimization model, the queuing formulas are used to predict import flows by port and landside channel in scenarios of total import growth, varying all-water rates, and a higher import share for nation-wide importers.     

A spatial analysis of air transport access and the essential air service program in the United States

In the United States, the goal of essential air service (EAS) is to provide a minimum level of air transport service from smaller, often remote communities to the national network. While supporters of EAS tout the economic benefits of connecting rural and isolated communities, critics cite high costs, low use and antiquated eligibility requirements as factors which compromise the value of the program. In this paper, a comprehensive database of US airports is combined with network analysis techniques and a geographic information system to evaluate population access (at the census tract level) to EAS airports for 2006. Results suggest that redundant coverage of EAS market areas by alternative Federal Aviation Administration designated hub airports can contribute to EAS airport market leakage and that alternative definitions of EAS community eligibility have the potential to dramatically increase programmatic efficiency and reduce federal monies spent on EAS subsidies.     

Evaluating the spatial spillover effects of transportation infrastructure on agricultural output across the United States

The role of spatial spillover associated with the infrastructure–economy relationship has received increasing attention in the literature. Surprisingly, in previous studies, the potential spatial spillover effect of transportation infrastructure on economic output in the U.S. agricultural sector has not been taken into account given the sector’s importance in the economy and dependence on transportation. The broader effects, including the direct effect and spatial spillover effect, of transportation infrastructure on agricultural output across 44 states in the United States from 1981 to 2004 are estimated in this study. A spatial Durbin panel data model that catches spatial dependence in both dependent and explanatory variables is used. The results suggest that road disbursement in a given state has positive direct effects on its own agricultural output. Also, the spillover effect of road infrastructure on agricultural output in neighboring states varies with respect to the spatial weight matrix used in the model. Moreover, our analysis shows that enhancement in road infrastructure in the states in the U.S. central region has a larger positive spillover effect on agricultural output when compared to coastal or border states.     

Travel and Aspects of Societal Structure: A Comparison of India and the United States

Most theoretical studies in tourism depend on the methods of illustrative comparison and case study. The limitations of the case study approach have lately been discussed. Like the method of illustrative comparison, it does not allow deductive development of theory. To rectify this situation, and to overcome the lacunae in methodology that Dann et al. (1988) and Nash (1996) complain about, the method of formal or systematic comparison can be brought to bear on tourism in various societies. In such a study, this paper compares two large, complex societies - India and the USA - and looks at the ramifications of travel. It analyses the institutionalisation of travel in a modern (US) and a modernising (Indian) society, including aspects of societal structure that are reflected in the language, and debates whether MacCannell's (1989) argument that tourism is a 'modern ritual' can be borne out. The paper concludes by looking at some of the theoretical implications and discussing the practical implications of the study for development of tourism in India.     

Long-term evolution of airport networks: Optimization model and its application to the United States

In this article, we introduce an optimization model aimed to assist aviation authorities in their strategic decisions regarding the long-term expansion of a network of airports. The objective is to maximize total system throughput for a given budget taking into account the capacity of the airports and the impact of travel costs upon demand. The results that can be obtained through the application of the model are first illustrated for a hypothetical small-size network and then in a study regarding the evolution of the network of the principal airports of the United States.     

Japanese-airport benchmarking with the DEA and endogenous-weight TFP methods: testing the criticism of overinvestment in Japanese regional airports

As aviation demand increased constantly along with the rapid economic growth in Japan and surrounding East Asian countries over the last several decades, Japanese government promoted airport construction since 1950s. However, the recent change in the economic background has made rise to a criticism toward the inefficient public investment, especially the transportation infrastructure. In this criticism, it has been argued that some of the small regional airports are indeed suffering the issue of overinvestment. Thus this paper attempts to verify the validity of such criticism by statistically measuring the efficiency of Japanese airports and conducting comparative analysis. For this objective, the paper employs two distinct methods namely data-envelopment analysis and endogenous-weight TFP methods. The results from these methods consistently indicates that the efficiency of regional airports in mainland Japan are lower than others, and that those airports constructed in the 1990s are relatively inefficient.     

Urban sprawl and social interaction potential: an empirical analysis of large metropolitan regions in the United States

This paper investigates the impact of urban spatial structure on the opportunities for people to participate in face-to-face activities. We make use of the Social Interaction Potential (SIP) metric, a tool to measure the average level of opportunity for people to engage in face-to-face activities given some basic constraints on their daily mobility patterns. Generally, this opportunity is a reflection of whether the urban spatial structure – a term that broadly applies to the spatial arrangement of land-uses and the interactions between them – constrains or permits the ability for potential activity partners to be at the same place and time. In this paper, the SIP metric is applied to 42 metropolitan regions in the United States with populations over 1,000,000 people. These measurements are regressed against a set of indicators of urban sprawl to expose the relationship between spatial structure and SIP. The indicators are generated by a factor analysis of a large set of variables describing the scale, centrality and dispersion of land-uses in addition to several other structural and infrastructure-related variables. Cluster analysis is also used to organize the regions into similar groupings with respect to their structural characteristics and the level of SIP they provide. The findings indicate that social interaction potential is hampered by decentralization, fragmentation, and longer commutes in the largest metropolitan regions in the country. Interestingly, the negative effect of decentralization on SIP Efficiency is found to be nearly ten times stronger than that of fragmentation and nearly 20 times stronger than the effect of mean commuting duration.     

The People's Republic of China and the United States of America: Economy,Trade and Tourism

On 5 February 1999, His Excellency Li Zhaoxing, Chinese Ambassador to the United States, took part in an international forum at Florida Gulf Coast University, FortMyers, Florida. The purpose of the forum was to explore the opportunities and challenges facing business and government as we grow ever closer to a true global economy. This excerpt from the event focuses on the expanding relationship between the People's Republic of China and the United States, particularly as it relates to travel, tourism, and the current economic state of the People's Republic of China, and includes a discussion of the impact of technology on global relationships. Participants on the panel included Dr Howard Chan, formerly of Tsinghua University, Beijing; Mr Larry Simms of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Dr Richard Pegnetter, Dean of FGCU College of Business; Mr Henry Clements, Jr, president of Clements Citrus Sales, Inc.; and Mr Mark Teagan of Enterprise Florida.     

Spatial structure and network behaviour of strategic airline groups: A comparison between Europe and the United States

The Gini-index has gained in legitimacy when measuring traffic distributions of air traffic as compared to other more established measures, such as Herfindahl's. In order to render the index more meaningful for policy-makers, a partial decomposition into strategic groups of airlines along distinct geopolitical scopes of air traffic is suggested. Air traffic across airports is considered an aggregate of complex networks that are subject to multiple constraints, such as geopolitics or technology. A multi-layered analytic approach accounts for network operators as economic agents that behave in strategic ways within these constraints. Our approach allows for comparing traffic distributions in Europe with that of the US and, in particular, introduces a normative component by isolating patterns in airlines’ strategies that are likely to induce different degrees of spatial concentration and balanced traffic distributions within these common markets.     

SeMS and sensibility: Security management systems and the management of risk in the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority

Following International Air Transportation Association requirement for all member airlines and airports to have a security management system (SeMS) beginning 1 March 2007, many organizations are looking to learn from safety and quality management systems. Without specific guidelines or best practices, organizations are forced to imitate these processes designed for different goals. Since safety, quality, and security environments operate on radically different principles, SeMS implementation must take a different tack. The case of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority illustrates the importance of a custom-designed program that meets public and corporate needs. The Authority is responsible for security screening of passengers, non-passengers, and baggage within selected airports. As a crown corporation with a precise statutory mandate and regulatory environment, the development of a SeMS illustrates some of the key problems for the application of SeMS to larger organizations.     

Easing the adoption of agent-based modelling (ABM) in tourism research

Agent-based modelling (ABM) is an emerging approach in tourism research. Despite the natural fit between theories of tourism as a complex, interconnected system, and the generative approach supported in ABM, there has been only limited integration within mainstream tourism research. This research letter reports on a recent gathering of tourism ABM researchers to define the main challenges that face the adoption of ABM in tourism research. These include technical, communications, and novelty issues. In response to these challenges, three potential strategies to ease adoption are outlined: education, awareness, and interdisciplinary teams. These findings are framed as a call for increased attention to the fit of ABM within tourism research, and a framework for negotiating constraints to adoption of this technology.     

统计过程控制在编组站生产管理中的应用

在介绍统计过程控制的基本原理及判断准则的基础上,对襄樊北站建立统计过程控制进行生产管理进行论述。根据编组站的作业内容,选择有调中转时间和无调中转时间作为控制指标,按一定原则抽取中转时间数据,制作X-R统计过程控制图,对车站有调中转时间和无调中转时间进行统计过程控制,并给出具体实施流程。     

关于提高铁路经营开发统计工作质量的实践与思考

随着铁路局集团公司向现代企业加快迈进,统计工作在企业经营中发挥的作用越来越大。以非运输系统经营开发统计工作为案例,分析了存在的难点和问题,提出了明确制度标准、优化分析模板、统一数据口径、系统组织培训、推行流程管理、落实层级责任、严肃考核考评、实施闭环管理等具体措施。     

Accessibility modelling: predicting the impact of planned transport infrastructure on accessibility patterns in Edinburgh,UK

The achievement of good spatial accessibility and equity in the distribution of urban services is one of the supreme goals for urban planners. With Scottish Government backing, the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) has started to construct a tram network to cater for the future needs of Scotland’s capital city by providing an integrated transport solution using trams and buses. Spatial Network Analysis of Public Transport Accessibility (SNAPTA) which is a GIS-based accessibility model has been developed to measure the accessibility by public transport to different urban services and activities. The model responds to several limitations in other existing accessibility models in planning practice. It offers an alternative and practical tool to help planners and decision makers in examining the strengths and weaknesses of land use – transport integration. SNAPTA has been applied to a pilot study in Edinburgh city to identify the contribution of the infrastructure improvements of the tram system and Edinburgh South Suburban Railway (ESSR) to improved accessibility by public transport to six types of activity opportunities. This paper outlines the concept and methodology of the SNAPTA model, and presents the findings related to this pilot study with a focus on changes in potential accessibility to jobs between four different public transport network scenarios. The accessibility values so obtained help to identify the gaps in the coverage of the public transport network and the efficiency in the spatial distribution of urban services and activities. The findings focus on whether the planned transport infrastructures for Edinburgh will lead to better accessibility and reduced inequity (in terms of accessibility) across the city.     

Identification of significant threats and errors affecting aviation safety in Taiwan using the analytical hierarchy process

This study ranked the significant threats and human errors affecting aviation safety. Two-phase questionnaires were used to elicit experts' views on four categories of human errors and threats comprising twenty-three criteria. The analytical hierarchy process was used to calculate the weight for each criteria which were then ranked in order of importance. The study indicated that flight crew errors are the most important threats.