Economic Ramifications Of The Regional Airport Concept

This tour d'horizon book reviews airport regulation and competition in different regions of the world and contrasts different policy perspectives. Organized in four parts, the first three examine, in turn, Australasia, North America, and Europe, while the last section looks at the institutional reforms that have taken place in these regions. The book covers the regulation of airports, and competition in different regions, as well as privatization policy, the interaction between airports and airlines, and regional economic impacts. It also examines the linkages between governance structures and forms of regulation. The book's global sweep embraces all the large aviation markets, bringing together the ideas and challenges of academic economists, airlines, airport managers, consultants and government regulators. As well as looking at different methods, degrees and paradigms of regulation it also spells out the stress-points, in a way that makes essential reading for airport operators, airline operations staff, as well as academic economists concerned with transport studies. It also offers interesting reading and important lessons for those concerned with regulation of the utility industries such as, telecommunications, water and power generation and distribution - where infrastructure can be subject to natural monopoly characteristics and where firms competing in downstream markets are dependent on the investment and operational strategies of the upstream infrastructure operator.

This book gives an overview of the main aspects of the potential development of regional airports particularly the economic aspects, the role of low-cost companies, demand modelling, the airport, airline and access mode choices, and the relationships between capacity constraints on hubs and the growth of regional airports.

Regional Airports have become increasingly important elements of the air network system, both as feeders of hub-and-spoke services and as origins or destination of point-to-point services.Congestion at the main hubs and increasing demand for air transportation - both for passengers and freight services – necessitates revaluation of the overall air systems, with regional airports taking an ever expanding role. Optimisation of air transportation systems within the framework of other forms of transport plays an important part in the present quest for sustainability. Congestion nowadays is not only associated with countries such as the USA and those in the EU, but also a variety of other countries with fast developing economies where there is a strong increase in air transportation demand.The revolution of the existing airport system, including regional airports requires the developing of new optimisation tools which can simulate the whole process and produce optimal solutions. These models are also essential to predict future demands and, in particular the role that regional airports will play.The siting of new airports involves taking into consideration a variety of environmental, ecological, social and economic factors which transcend the problem of transportation resources optimisation itself. Regional Airports can be a powerful driving force behind the development of an area and conversely can result in major problems if they are wrongly sited.

The break-up of BAA and the blocked takeover of Bratislava airport by the competing Vienna airport have brought the issue of airport competition to the top of the agenda for air transport policy in Europe. Airport Competition reviews the current state of the debate and asks whether airport competition is strong enough to effectively limit market power. It provides evidence on how travellers chose an airport, thereby altering its competitive position, and on how airports compete in different regions and markets. The book also discusses the main policy implications of mergers and subsidies.