Air demand modelling: overview and application to a developing regional airport

Air demand forecast at airports is an important problem for the airport management and also for the regulator that has to plan a homogeneous development of the overall transport system. The current tendency is towards airport privatization; then, the goal to increase the served demand is one of the most important together with the progress of non-aviation activities. The evolution of the air transport system both in terms of low-cost companies, that generally use regional airports, and new technologies (as regional jets) has given a further impulse to the development of planning methodologies able to support decisions for an efficient distribution of resources. Regional airports can play an important role in this new background if the most suitable developing strategies are identified. This chapter wants to give a general overview about the problem of the air demand modelling, both in terms of theoretical approaches and practical problems. Models are classified with respect to different criteria, and the most suitable models for each planning level are also identified. An application to a regional airport in Southern Italy is also presented in order to test some of the described approaches and to obtain practical indications about applied models and developing strategies to be used.