Determinants of air traffic volumes and structure at small European airports

Abstract

This study investigates the determinants of air traffic volumes and structure (carrier type) at lesser studied small European airports serving below one million passengers per annum. It discusses airport choice factors for airline customers and focuses on the characteristics of small airports and their catchment areas in order to explain variation in 2016 traffic volumes for 146 regional gateways in 21 EU countries. Through the application of multiple linear regression and correlation it is found that population size, airport charges and the need for capacity coordination are the most related to the number of passengers using these airports. Several different correlations are found with respect to the share of low-cost, full-service and charter carriers as a proportion of total airport traffic, which in most cases extends the findings of the limited number of other studies in the field of small regional airports. The research concludes that while certain relationships can be found, their statistical significance is moderate, leaving scope for a deeper study into a smaller samples of airports. subsidised air services, hoping that the resulting inbound traffic would propel the local economy and tourism (Bel, 2009; Francis, Fidato, & Humphreys, 2003). The general framework of airport-airline relationships and airport route network development strategies have been explored by Graham (2014, 2013). Others have investigated causalities between airline traffic and more specific variables, such as catchment area expansion (

Aeronautical Infrastructure Optimization to Enhance the Strategic and Operational Business Performance of Small Airports

“…This underscores the significance of optimizing terminal infrastructure in small airports, as proposed by Christensen et al [15], for the overall development of the country, as well as highlights the potential contribution of small airports in bolstering airline businesses [8].…”

“…Efficient management of small airports necessitates identifying factors influencing their strategic and operational performance, and many studies in the literature have proposed different approaches to measuring airport performance [1][2][3][4][5]. Despite the existence of numerous studies on airport efficiency, it is evident that few of them have specifically focused on analyzing the business aspects of small airports, even with their relevance in regional development and their role in aggregating demand for airlines [6][7][8][9]. It can be noted that the business management literature commonly evaluates the performance of airport companies based on the number of passengers and cargo processed, aircraft movements, and aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenues, among other factors related to commercial aviation, applicable to large structures, with gaps being identified in the literature related to the study of small airports.…”

Reinterpreting the role of primary and secondary airports in low-cost carrier expansion in Europe

“…Could new disruptive business models emerge, especially considering the convergence between LCC and FSNC models, and the resulting hybridisation in the intra-European market ( Ahmad et al, 2018 ; Fageda et al, 2015 ; Klophaus et al, 2012 )? This is a particular concern for smaller airports that are more susceptible to shifts in airline strategies ( Dziedzic et al, 2019 ).…”

Do scale and the type of markets matter? Revisiting the determinants of passenger air services worldwide

“…The range of potential factors comes from the existing body of literature (see Discazeaux and Polèze, 2007;Wang and Song, 2010;Dziedzic et al, 2020;Zhang and Graham, 2020). It is restricted by data availability especially at the sub-national level and by the very timeconsuming task of going through the national statistics of each country split into sub-national units, even without talking about language issues.…”