A systematic approach to assess the effectiveness of airport noise mitigation strategies

Regional airports are often located very close to the urban area they serve and the increasing traffic rate that many of them have experienced in the last years has produced several impacts on the communities living close to the airport area, mainly aviation noise. If not properly managed, noise impacts produced by airport operations can cut down significantly the development of airport air traffic with direct effects on the economic and territorial systems. Aeronautical noise has greatly reduced in the last decade, due to aircraft design technological improvements and more severe regulations. However, the noise reduction during a single event does not make the issue of the airport location – and then the whole noise impact – less significant. This paper proposes an assessment process to evaluate the effects of actions adopted to reduce airport noise impacts on populated areas. Both airport-related factors – such as number of take-off; day-evening-night distributions of movements; aircraft type; flying paths – and land-use characteristics have been considered and combined in a density index that synthesizes the impacts of airport noise on the territory. The assessment process has been tested on a real case, the airport of Bologna in Northern Italy. The predicted results, compared with available real data for the test case, are significant and encourage the use of the proposed assessment process as decision support system for the airport management.     

Hub airport slot Re-allocation and subsidy policy to speed up air traffic recovery amid COVID-19 pandemic --- case on the Chinese airline market

With international air travels largely banned around the world amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, many gateway and hub airports have more ideal slots available for reallocation. Airport traffic recovery replaces airport congestion to become the primary challenge of major airports around the world. With the pandemic well controlled domestically in China, the government liberalizes the hub airport slots for those previously forbidden services to the small/regional airports. This paper thus analytically examines the effect of this slot liberalization. The government subsidy to the small airports has also been considered. It is found that the slot liberalization can speed up airport traffic recovery for both hub and small airports. The hub airport slot liberalization leads to a lower level of minimum subsidy to sustain the survival of the small airports. Given any fixed level of subsidy to the small airport, both the total airport traffic and social welfare would improve with the slot liberalization at the hub airport. When the government can adjust the level of subsidy after liberalizing the hub airport slots, the subsidy could be excessive, if the government emphasizes too much on airport traffic recovery. This would, however, harm the overall social welfare.     

An empirical analysis of airport capacity expansion

Theoretical analyses of the impact of airport capacity expansion must model or make assumptions about the effect of capacity on demand, airline competition, aircraft types, fares and other characteristics of a given airport. In this paper, we use empirical data on historical schedules, fares, delays and demand for the busiest 150 airports in 2015 to examine the typical impact of historical capacity expansions. We find significant diversity in outcomes, with over half the expanded airports either using less than their pre-expansion capacity or remaining constrained even at post-expansion capacity by 2016. Many of the expected impacts, such as reductions in typical aircraft size, either do not materialise or are dominated by other effects (for example, recessions; airlines beginning or ending operations at an airport; changes in regulation). Behaviour on expansion is affected by slot control regulations and whether the airport is initially capacity-constrained. In particular, slot-controlled airports typically add new destinations and carriers on expansion rather than making significant changes to existing schedules.     

Relevance of airport accessibility and airport competition

Airport accessibility is an important criterion for airport competition. The relevance of airport accessibility and airport competition was studied in this paper based on the panel data collected from nine large airports in Jiangsu province, China from 2005 to 2014. The results showed that the cost of expense, time and fatigue for the arrival at the airport are proposed to quantify levels of fastness, economy and amenity for the passengers to arrive at airport. The airport accessibility is significantly affected by airport passenger traffic and airline frequency. The passenger traffic can be increased by 2% with 1% increase of airport accessibility based on the analysis results of the nine large airports in Jiangsu province.     

Competitive drivers towards improved airport/airline relationships

This paper draws on a recent report from Copenhagen Economics, with which both authors were involved, to argue that the European airport market has changed such that airports are now subject to competitive constraints from a number of sources. While these will bite differentially according to the circumstances of individual airports, airport possession of significant market power can no longer be casually assumed; nor, therefore, can the need for economic regulation. Indeed, the costs and benefits of economic regulation need to be carefully assessed against the extent and nature of the market power it is intended to countervail. In particular, increasing attention needs to be paid to the risks of economic regulation hampering both the further growth of airport competition and the development of more productive commercial relationships between airports and their airline customers which have the potential to create added value for both parties.     

US airport financial reform and its implications for airport efficiency: An exploratory investigation

This study investigates the effect on airport productive efficiency of two major funding sources used by US airports, namely the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants and the Passenger Facility Charges (PFC). A two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) modeling approach is employed for this purpose. In the first stage, we estimate airport productive efficiency using a variable returns-to-scale DEA model with both desirable and undesirable outputs. In the second stage, random effects regression models are estimated with airport efficiency scores from the first stage as the dependent variable and PFC and a proxy for AIP grants as two of the explanatory variables. By applying the two-stage DEA model to 42 primary US airports, it is found that PFC use has a positive impact on airport productive efficiency, whereas the impact of AIP grants is negative. Multiple counterfactual scenarios are examined by altering the mix of the two types of funding sources. The results show that simultaneously raising the PFC ceiling and decreasing AIP grants could lead to greater airport productive efficiency. The US federal aviation authority would also benefit from realizing these scenarios, especially given the budgetary constraints it faces.     

Sustainable airport development with performance evaluation forecasts: A case study of 12 Asian airports

This study evaluates airport performance from 2014 to 2021 with actual and forecasted data to help plan airport sustainability and establish sustainable airport development strategies. Eight Chinese airports (PEK, PVG, CAN, SZX, SHA, XMN, HAK, and HKG) and four representative Asian airports (HND, ICN, SIN, and DEL) are studied. Airport performance is evaluated from the process level (i.e. operational processes providing aeronautical service and financial processes providing commercial service) to the airport level using the Network DEA with actual and forecasted data from the grey model. Results indicate that HKG has been and will be efficient for the entire study period. There is an observed trend of an overall efficiency decrease during the forecast period of 2018–2021. This study classifies operationally efficient airports (PEK, HND, and XMN) and financially efficient airports (HAK, ICN, and DEL). Mainland Chinese airports show significantly higher operational efficiency than financial efficiency, and lower rankings in overall efficiency. It is expected that mainland Chinese airports will soon develop beyond the transportation center, possibly towards the aerotropolis, balancing economic, social, and environmental aspects for sustainable development. This study helps airport management to evaluate sustainable development strategies by assessing current and near future conditions affecting sustainability.     

Pro-competition rules in airport privatization: International experience and the Brazilian case

This article aims to demonstrate the importance of establishing pro-competition rules in the concession of multiple airports to private companies by describing the recent Brazilian experience. More specifically, it addresses: (i) how the economic literature deals with potential competition among different airports, and how this competition was dealt with in the concession programs of Australia, Mexico and the United Kingdom; and (ii) Brazil's recent experience with airport concessions, where international benchmarking led to cross-ownership restrictions. As a conclusion, this paper defends that governments should design regulatory restrictions that account for the existence of competition among airports. Nevertheless, these restrictions must be carefully planned and designed to achieve their goals.     

Effects of non-aeronautical activities at airports on the public transport access system: A case study of Zurich Airport

Many planning authorities and airports study measures to increase public transport use for airport ground access and egress. At the same time, an increase in real estate development at and around airports is occurring, both due to airports seeking new revenue possibilities and other developers attempting to profit from high value locations. This paper considers non-aeronautical activities at large airports, largely commercial centres and transit hubs, as land uses that have the potential to improve the situation for operating public transport services. In order to assess potential benefits and disadvantages, four research questions are considered: (1) Can the additional travel volume reach levels at which it has a significant impact? (2) To what extent do non-aeronautical activities influence the public transport access system? (3) Is the resulting demand distribution better or worse regarding peaking behaviour? (4) Is there a potential for the resulting overall demand to bring about capacity shortages?A case study is conducted at the airport of Zurich, Switzerland, which finds that non-aeronautical activities in the direct airport vicinity have led to a situation where the operation of public transport services is much more viable due to overall higher passenger numbers and a more even distribution throughout the day. It is concluded that locating non-aeronautical activities at airports can, in addition to providing commercial benefits to developers, lead to a situation where improved public transport services become feasible.     

Brazilian airport economics from a geographical perspective

This paper discusses the revenue and expenditure functions of a sample of Brazil’s airports administered by Infraero, the Brazilian State enterprise responsible for administering the country’s major airports. It aims to identify what volume of movement at the airports associates with positive net earnings, i.e., the break-even point between revenue and expenditure, in view of aspects of airport movement and geographical factors. It examines airports serving regular airlines and with movement of up to 8 million passengers in 2010. Revenues and expenditures are explained by total passengers embarked and disembarked at each airport and by the potential of the airport’s ‘anchor city’. Multiple regression analysis achieved a high level of explanation for the dependent variables studied, i.e., revenues and expenditures. The model explains 81% and 91% of the variations in revenues and expenditures, respectively. The analysis shows that, considering the ranking of cities, Brazilian airports with less than 2 million passengers tend to operate at a financial loss, those with between 2 and 3 million passengers are at the transition stage between positive and negative earnings, while airports with more than 3 million passengers tend to make gains. However, the simulation modelling shows that the break-even point between expenditure and revenue functions can vary considerably when different ‘city potentials’ are considered. In this respect, the modelling offers investors a tool for analyzing passenger demand risk in the light of expectations for Brazilian cities’ potential.     

A border effect in airport choice: Evidence from Western Europe

Some commentators suggest that air travelers are reluctant to use a foreign airport as a point of departure for their journey. Such reluctance has implications for marketing and policy measures, especially in border regions and in smaller countries, such as the Netherlands and Belgium. In this study, we tested this supposed barrier effect of national borders with empirical data.Our research is based on a subsample (n = 4083) of a large-scale survey among German, Dutch and Belgian adults. Participants were asked about their most recent flight, preferences regarding long-distance travel, and general travel behavior. The survey information about the most recent trip was linked to the Official Airline Guide with data from 18 airports in the Western European region. On average, however, only 10 airports offered a direct connection to the destination of the respondents’ most recent flight. A conditional logit model with varying choice sets allowed us to model only the relevant airports per respondent, while accounting for other known determinants in airport choice, such as travel time, airline competition, and number of available flights.The model results confirmed our expectations: people strongly prefer a departure airport situated in their own country. The model predictions suggest that without the border effect the share of people in our sample departing abroad would rise from 7.7% to 18.7%. Experience (with multiple airports as a point of departure) mitigates the barrier effect of the border. The performance of our model is good: the median probabilitie for the chosen alternative is 68%. Our research stresses the importance of the barrier effect of borders in airport choice: even when traveling across borders in the European sky, national borders remain important.     

Endogenous control of service rates in stochastic and dynamic queuing models of airport congestion

Airport congestion mitigation requires reliable delay estimates. This paper presents an integrated model of airport congestion that combines a tactical model of capacity utilization into a strategic queuing model. The model quantifies the relationships between flight schedules, airport capacity and flight delays, while accounting for the way arrival and departure service rates can be controlled over the day to maximize operating efficiency. We show that the model estimates the average and variability of the delays observed at New York’s airports relatively well. Results suggest that delays can be extremely sensitive to even small changes in flight schedules or airport capacity.     

The cost allocation approach of airport service activities

This study suggests a new allocation approach to the joint costs between airports and airlines and proposes estimates for airport service costs. Using correlation coefficients, data envelopment analysis and regression models, the research measures the relation and efficiency between service activity and airport operation costs. The regression outcomes not only reveal a significant management issue concerning the apron fee measurement, but also show that the airport physical activity cost drivers need to be considered with cost and revenue management. The DEA outcomes reflect the expansion of the terminal areas.     

Improving US airport taxicab services through governance arrangements

Most airports internationally have implemented customer satisfaction programs into their operations to increase non-aeronautical revenues. In the US, taxicabs are an essential airport transport mode given the limited public transport options available. Effective airport taxicab planning efforts can increase airport customer satisfaction levels, as well as facilitate handling increased airport passenger volumes. However, little is known on how US airports have adapted their governance practices from a traditional hierarchical to a network approach in their efforts to undertake airport taxicab planning initiatives since the deregulation of the transportation industry. Data acquired from 51 US hub airports is used to examine their existing taxicab planning practices. The findings offer how US airports can modify governance processes in their airport taxicab planning processes to better support increases in the customer satisfaction levels of airport taxicab patrons.     

A tentative analysis of the impacts of an airport closure

This paper identifies the vulnerabilities of operations at Heathrow airport to a short airport closure. The system disruptions assessed are delays, flight rerouting or diversions to alternate airports, and flight cancellations. In addition, the impact on fuel consumption, and hence CO₂ emissions, is quantified using the Reorganized Air Traffic Control Mathematical Simulator Plus simulation model and the Advanced Emission Model tool. The results have implications for assessing how increased severe weather events associated with climate change may disrupt airport operations.     

Measuring airport service quality: A multidimensional approach

Currently, airports are expected to be operated as self-sufficient service organizations providing efficient and high-quality services to a variety of customers. In this context, improving airport service quality (ASQ) has become paramount. However, due to the complexity of the airport service environment, an effective process of measuring and analyzing passenger perceptions of ASQ is not easily achieved. Generic scales for perceived service quality might not cover some particularities of the passenger–airport interaction. Furthermore, while some measurement practices have been developed within the airport industry, there has been only limited consideration for validity and reliability. These concerns are certainly relevant to avoid misinterpreting passenger perceptions. In view of these concerns, this paper has a twofold objective. First, to fit a measurement model for perceived ASQ built on typical service measures within the airport industry. Second, to test for the model's equivalence across groups of passengers. Sample data from an extensive survey applied at a major Brazilian airport was used for confirmatory factor analysis. The results suggested that a six-factor structure provides a meaningful multi-item measurement model for perceived ASQ. The model was validated for international and domestic departing passengers with respect to its factorial structure and metric invariance. The proposed measurement model could be considered an alternative for a multidimensional approach in the context of airport performance measurement regarding service quality. Finally, the findings from this research might contribute to the discussion on passenger perceptions of ASQ, particularly concerning its multidimensionality and the need to review current practices for ASQ analysis.     

US airport ownership,efficiency, and heterogeneity

All US commercial airports are in the public sector yet not all have the same ownership type. For medium and large hub US airports we use stochastic frontier analysis to analyze the efficiency differences for alternative airport ownership types. We find that while form of ownership may matter for cost efficiency, in general its effect is relatively small. Yet type of public sector ownership does have cost efficiency implications in certain environments. Further, when heterogeneity is not controlled, the results change substantially so that type of ownership matters much more which demonstrates the importance of controlling for cross section heterogeneity.     

Air transport liberalisation and airport dependency: developing a composite index

Air transport liberalisation in Europe has produced some major changes to the networks operated by airlines and the services available at airports. Within this context the degree of airport dependency in terms of market, spatial and temporal concentration is important to know from an economic geography and risk management perspective. A composite index called the Airport Dependency Index (ADI) is developed to measure airport dependency based on the concept of the relative Gini coefficient. Liberalisation has had varying impacts depending on the size and type of airport and so a comparison is made of the degree of dependency at a large sample of European airports using the ADI. The ADI has the potential to provide insight on the sustainability and worthiness of financing airport projects, and on whether airports should diversify further their activities by investing in the growth and expansion of their network.     

Canadian airport security: The privatization of a public good

Economic theory would define airport security as a public good; no different than border control or the military, but this is not how it is treated in many countries. In Mexico, airport security is financed entirely from the public treasury. In the U.S., the cost is split evenly between air passengers and the public treasury. In Canada, air passengers pay the entire cost of airport security. The Canadian case is examined in detail. Forcing air passengers to bear the full cost of airport security creates a number of economic distortions. Air travel in Canada is discouraged by the added cost of security, but worse it encourages travelers to cross the Canada-U.S. border where they can fly from lower cost U.S. airports. The tax losses to the public treasury because of this policy are arguably greater than the total security fees collected.Airport security evolved organically rather than by design because governments were forced to react quickly to escalating threats. As a result, a “user-pay” financing system was put in place in Canada without careful policy analysis.     

Incorporating annoyance in airport environmental policy: noise, societal response and community participation

Airport capacity continues to be one of the air transport issues that creates the most concern. The major environmental constraint for airports is the noise generated by aircraft. Annoyed communities living around airports have become a limiting factor for airport capacity and operability. This paper brings together the existing literature in the fields of airport environmental capacity, non-acoustic factors of noise annoyance, NIMBYism and environmental conflicts. We also analyze the socio-environmental conflict between Barcelona airport and the community of Gavà Mar. This case shows that the lack of trust between parties, the impossibility of predicting noise exposure, the absence of opportunities for civil society to speak and the difficulty of accessing relevant information foster annoyance and mobilization in the communities that live around the airport. In addition, it is shown that, in such a situation, communities’ reactions can evolve to a post-NIMBY stage in which proactive attitudes replace reactive ones.