01122229

Component

The debate surrounding the issue of whether demand for air transport should be met or not focuses on the trade-off between the economic benefits and environmental costs. With regard to the economic benefits, the focus is often on the wider economic benefits of air transport, while the benefits of increased accessibility gets less attention, or are taken for granted, when considering the expansion of airports. This situation is apparent in the UK where currently the government is considering different options to expand the capacity of Heathrow airport. In this context, a model is developed to measure and valuate changes in accessibility following an expansion of an airport. Accessibility is considered to be a factor of the number of destinations the airport serves and the frequency of service provided to each of these destinations. The model is then applied to the two main options to increase runway capacity at Heathrow, that of a third runway or the introduction of mixed-mode operation on the existing runways. The results show that substantial accessibility benefits are expected and these will come from an increase in service frequency on existing routes rather than from serving new destinations. The analysis demonstrates the need for better understanding the relationship between airport size and the level of accessibility it provides and better understanding the nature of expected accessibility benefits before decision on the expansion of airports are made.

01120148

09-3241

English

14p

2009

Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting

DVD

Figures (1) ; References (9) ; Tables (5)

Accessibility; Air transportation; Airport capacity; Aviation; Economic benefits

Heathrow Airport

Airport expansion; Destinations; Expansion projects

London (England)

Aviation; Economics; Planning and Forecasting; Terminals and Facilities; I10: Economics and Administration

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2009 Paper #09-3241

TRIS, TRB

Jan 30 2009 7:39PM