Abstract

CARSTENS, SC  and  HEYNS, GJ. Passenger airport choice decisions in a multi-airport region in South Africa. JCMAN [online]. 2018, vol.15, n.1, pp.250-268. ISSN 1815-7440.

Airports in a multi-airport region (MAR) have to compete for passengers and the airport choices of these passengers depend on a number of explanatory variables. This research investigated the airport choice behaviour of domestic passengers in a South African MAR by determining their sensitivity to different choice attributes. For this purpose, a discrete choice approach based on stated preference data was used to identify the preferences of departing passengers from two neighbouring airports. The questionnaire was based on a Bayesian efficient (D-optimal) design with 60 choice sets. Computer aided personal interview (CAPI) surveys at each of the airports resulted in 6180 records. In order to account for preference heterogeneity a Latent Class Model (LCM) was calibrated taking into account access time, access cost, air fare, parking cost, parking time, flight frequency and flight delays. The model estimation results reflected the preference heterogeneity with three classes exhibiting different sensitivities to choice attributes. Class willingness-to-pay (wTp) measures indicate that passengers were inclined to accept a higher value for travel time savings to the regional airport.

Keywords : Airports; airline demand; discrete choice; Latent Class Model and low-cost airlines.

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