The Potential of Demand Management as a Short-Term Means of Relieving Airport Congestion

Rapid air traffic growth combined with limited airport airside capacities have led to ever-increasing delays. When the demand for air travel and the general economy recover from the current crisis, it is conceivable that air traffic congestion may again come to the fore. Given the rather bleak prospects for significant near-term increases in airport runway system capacity, it is likely that demand for runway access may need to be carefully managed to keep flight delays under control. While various approaches to demand management have been suggested in the research literature, few studies to date have provided quantitative evidence on two major questions: the magnitude of the impact that demand management may have; and the extent to which the current weight-based landing fee systems under-price airside access to busy airports. In this paper, we address in quantitative terms these issues, using as case studies for illustration, New York's LaGuardia, Boston’s Loga