Aisling J. Reynolds-Feighan

Traffic distribution in low-cost and full-service carrier networks in the US air transportation market

After deregulation in the US in 1978, air carrier networks were increasingly focused around a small number of hubs. These ‘hub-and-spoke’ (HS) networks were the predominant form of network organisation of large carriers as well as smaller regional and commuter carriers. The passenger carrier networks typically consisted of between three and seven hubs, while the air freight carrier networks were typically focused around one or two hubs. A variety of measures of the traffic distribution in carriers’ networks have been presented in the economics and regional science literature. These measures are reviewed and compared for a sample of US major carriers for the period 1969–99. The HS network structure requires a concentration of traffic in both space and time. The summary measures presented focus on measuring the spatial concentration at discrete locations in the networks.

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE CAPACITY AND CONGESTION LEVELS AT EUROPEAN AIRPORTS

This paper examines the current capacity of the EUs airport infrastructure and the main factors determining that capacity. The nature and role of airport services are detailed. The determination of capacity is examined with discussion of the influence which air traffic control factors, demand characteristics, environmental conditions and engineering design will have on capacity. The methods used to assess delay are detailed along with extensive data sketching the current state of Europes system of large airports and the extent of infrastructure congestion. The options available to policy makers to improve the management and organisation of capacity are set out and critically discussed.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Competing Networks, Spatial and Industrial Concentration in the US Airline Industry

Abstract The paper uses Gini decomposition analysis to evaluate changes in the spatial distribution and industry shares of total US air traffic, as well as analysing the decomposition components for individual airlines and airports for the period 1990–2002. The paper develops explicit relationships between two of the main decomposition schemes used in the income inequality literature and shows the insights that such analysis may provide for evaluation and examination of air transport networks and traffic distributions. A multi-dimensional Gini and its decomposition are derived using an adjustment method derived from the relationship between the two Gini decomposition schemes.

Employment Sub-centres and Travel-to-Work Mode Choice in the Dublin Region

In this paper, travel-to-work patterns are analysed for a number of key employment sub-centres in the Dublin region. Geographical information system (GIS) visualisations and regression analysis are used to identify a small number of employment sub-centres using a large sample of travel-to-work data from the 2002 Census of Population modified with travel-specific data by the Dublin Transport Office. The journey to work is then analysed across these employment sub-centres in the context of a travel mode choice model. The estimation results illustrate the varying effects that travel attributes such as travel time and travel cost have on the choice of mode of travel across employment destinations highlighting the role of trip destination as a main driver of travel behaviour in the Dublin region.

The E.U. and U.S. air freight markets: network organization in a deregulated environment

Network aspects of the U.S. and E.U. air freight industries are examined. Distinctions between passenger and freight operations are made and the important role of an air carriers network is discussed. In the U.S.A. after air cargo deregulation in 1977, all‐cargo carriers greatly increased their share of the air freight market by diversifying the range of air freight products offered and by developing multimodal networks. The all‐cargo operators organized their networks around single hub while the combination passenger/cargo carriers have developed interactive hub‐and‐spoke systems based around several regional hubs. These networks have evolved more for passenger needs than for cargo needs. The traffic distributions for several of the E.U. ‘flag carriers’ are then analysed. The E.U. carriers network is typically a single hub operation, largely because regulations up until 1993 have prevented the development of hubs outside of the national territory. The liberalization of air transport now permits carrier...

Comparative Analysis of Air Freight Networks in Regional Markets Around the Globe

This chapter examines the Asian, European, North American and Middle East air freight networks of combination passenger and freight and all-freight carriers using air freight capacity datasets for the period 1999–2009. The chapter begins by reviewing some of the key trends that have shaped and characterized air freight markets during the 1990 and 2000s. The impact of air transport market liberalization is identified as a key determinant of changing carrier behavior, particularly in relation to network structure organization. The second major section of the chapter examines the sources of data available for tracking trends in the air freight sector. The lack of comprehensive datasets detailing the activities of the integrated carriers is discussed. Using the Official Airline Guide (OAG) historical databases that list ex-post carrier schedules for each year globally, annual data series indicating freight capacity of all Asian, European and North American and selected Middle Eastern carriers are determined and the general trends are described. The US T-100 Database is used to derive an equivalent distribution for the two largest integrated carriers, FedEx and UPS. The changing nature of industry organization is discussed and the key players in each region are distinguished. For the combination carriers, passenger and freight network structures are compared for the period 1999–2009. The fortunes of the key air freight hubs are reviewed over the same period. The chapter concludes with a discussion about the key driving factors in dictating the future direction of the industry in the coming decade. Consolidation in the airline industry and the role of the integrated carriers receive particular consideration.

Airport Services and Airport Charging Systems: A Critical Review of The EU Common Framework

This paper reviews proposals contained in the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) Consultation Paper of 1995 and Draft Directive of 1997 on Airport Charges. Economic and practical problems associated with the CEC proposals are highlighted. The main conclusions are that the CEC proposals will be difficult to enforce because they are vague, implementation is left to the individual member states, and because they allow for a variety of approaches to charging systems which can include substantial cross-subsidisation across aeronautical and non-aeronautical uses at one or more airports. The fact that the Commission will not have significant powers of enforcement further reduces the impact which the proposals can have.

Previous Studies on U.S. Airline Deregulation

This chapter is set out in three sections and reviews different aspects of the literature on U.S. airline deregulation. In the first section, the issues and concerns raised by economists are summarized and some of the major findings are reported. In the second section, the small body of work done by geographers and regional scientists in the area of commercial aviation is outlined. Section 2.3., the final section, deals with research undertaken by operations researchers in transport and can generally be described as network or scheduling studies. The emphasis in this last section is placed on the conceptualization and formulation of the problems rather than on solution methods and detailed empirical findings.

The Setting: Trends in U.S. Commercial Aviation

The purpose of this chapter is to survey the changes that have been taking place in the airline industry and in the national airways system, since the 1960s. In the previous chapter, various economic assessments of the industry since 1978 were reported, and two consistent shortfalls in the examinations and analyses were highlighted. These were the failure to focus on the extent and nature of specific network changes, and the effect of these changes on the national airport system. In this chapter, both of these issues will be addressed. Specifically, the aims are to (1) describe the changes taking place in the national airways system and attempt to link these with patterns of change among air carriers’ route systems; (2) to ascertain whether the air carriers’ propensity to concentrate traffic in their system at a small number of points (i.e. to develop and emphasize so-called ‘hub-and-spoke’ systems) has occurred only since 1978, or if this trend was in place before deregulation; (3) investigate the most appropriate measure of networks and network change, taking into account as many aspects of the airlines’ networks as possible.

Production Function Analysis of Continental Airlines

In this chapter, the results of the production functions estimated for Continental Airlines’ domestic route system are reported. The Chapter is divided into two sections. In section 6.1 the results of the Cobb-Douglas production function estimates are presented and discussed. Five functions were estimated in all, and these functions are compared in section 6.1 to highlight differences in the organization and performance of different hub subsystems and non-hub routes. The section presents strong empirical evidence for including a network variable in the airline firm’s production function.