European second tier airports connectivity analysis: Study case considering potential long-haul low-cost flights

Abstract

European air transport market and its growing tendency has led to an environment where all airports are facing fierce competition to attract connecting passengers and airlines. The potential development of long-haul low-cost carriers will be held by second tier airports, airports one step below hubs, in the future years. For this reason, the thesis aims to analyse the European second tier airports in terms of connectivity along with its evolution during the 2009-2017 period. The impact of long-haul low-cost flights into the connectivity values of European second tier airports will also be studied. To fulfil the objectives of the thesis, a connectivity analysis is done in terms of passenger accessibility and airport centrality applying the Netscan model. Once the different types of connectivity values are determined, a clustering is done to group similar airports. The historical connectivity levels are analysed following the previous clustering. Then a study case is done by comparing connectivity analysis results with the introduction of long-haul low-cost phantom flights. The main findings of the thesis conclude that there are significant differences between European second tier airports in terms of connectivity. Munich’s performance is better than all other second tier airports, even compared to airports with higher number of passengers like Barcelona, London Gatwick or even than major hubs like Madrid. European second tier airports are primarily focused on intra-European operations. The historical data of European second tier airports reveals that the period 2009-2017 has been satisfactory in terms of connectivity, growing 19% in direct connectivity and more than 30% for other types of connectivity. The study case exposes that it is too early to determine the implications of long-haul low-cost operations in terms of connectivity on the European market since most results are inconclusive