Airport Choice in a Constraint World: Discrete Choice Models and Capacity Constraints

Gelhausen, Marc Christopher (2008): Airport Choice in a Constraint World: Discrete Choice Models and Capacity Constraints. Published in: Proceedings of the Air Transport Research Society World Conference 2008 (July 2008): pp. 1-16.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach to model capacity constraints in discrete choice with at least some capacity-related variables missing, like e.g. the price of a commodity. Airport choice models often do not contain air fares because of measurement difficulties as air fares are often not included in passenger surveys and thus essential information regarding ticket price is lost to the researcher. Since air fares vary more across ticket categories at an airport than a ticket category varies across different airports, air fare related information cannot be reconstructed in many cases by the researcher. However, capacity constraints are becoming increasingly more important and thus including capacity constraints in airport choice models is reasonable.

The model approach is based on individual utility maximisation and thus fits into the discrete choice framework. Furthermore, nonlinear programming is employed to find a feasible solution regarding capacity constraints. Thereby, detailed statements on how limited airport capacity changes traveller behaviour with regard to airport choice on the level of individual air travellers and airports are possible. The paper concludes with an empirical example to demonstrate the methodology and show the impact of limited airport capacity on airport choice of air travellers.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Airport and Access Mode Choice; Capacity Constraints; Choice Behaviour; Discrete Choice; Nonlinear Programming
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C5 - Econometric Modeling > C53 - Forecasting and Prediction Methods ; Simulation Methods; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C6 - Mathematical Methods ; Programming Models ; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling > C61 - Optimization Techniques ; Programming Models ; Dynamic Analysis; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C2 - Single Equation Models ; Single Variables > C25 - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models ; Discrete Regressors ; Proportions ; Probabilities

References

Ben-Akiva, M. and Lerman, S. (1985), “Discrete choice analysis: Theory and applications to travel demand”, MIT-Press, Cambridge.

Gelhausen, M. Ch. (2007a), „Ein Generalized Neural Logit-Modell zur Prognose von Flughafen- und Zugangsverkehrsmittelwahl“, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne.

Gelhausen, M. Ch. (2007b), “Impact des contraintes de capacité sur le comportement des voyageurs”, Séminaire de Direction générale de l'Aviation civile, 13 décembre 2007, Paris.

Gelhausen, M. Ch., Berster, P. and Wilken, D. (2008), “Airport choice in Germany and the impact of high speed intercity access: The case of the Cologne region”, Journal of Airport Management, 2(4), in press.

Gelhausen, M. Ch. and Wilken, D. (2006), “Airport and Access Mode Choice - A Ge-neralized Nested Logit Model Approach”, Proceedings of the 10th Air Transport Research Society World Conference 2006 in Nagoya, Japan.

Innes, J. D. and Doucet D. H. (1990), “Effects of access distance and level of service on airport choice”, Journal of Transportation Engineering, 116(4), pp. 507 - 516. Maier, G., and Weiss, P. (1990), „Modelle diskreter Entscheidungen - Theorie und Anwendung in den Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften“, Springer, Wien.

Moreno, M. B. and Muller, C. (2003), “The influence of ground accessibility on airport choice in Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area”, Paper presented at the 19th Dresden Conference of Traffic and Transportation Sciences.

Ozoka, A. I. and Ashford, N. (1988), “Application of disaggregate modeling in aviation systems planning in Nigeria: A case study”, Transportation Research Record, 1214, pp. 10 - 20.

Wilken, D., Berster, P. and Gelhausen, M. Ch. (2007), “Airport choice in Germany - New empirical evidence of the German Air Traveller Survey 2003”, Journal of Airport Management, 1(2), pp. 165 - 179.

Wei, W. (2008), “A new approach to quantify the benefit to air travelers resulting from airport capacity expansion“, Journal of Air Transport Management, 14, pp. 47 – 49.

Windle, R. and Dresner, M. (1995), “Airport choice in multi-airport regions”, Journal of Transportation Engineering, 121(4), pp. 332 - 337.