IS INCREASING SEAT CAPACITY COMMON PRACTICE OF AIRLINES AT CONGESTED AIRPORTS?

摘要

If on the one hand the overall demand for air transport grows;;but airport capacity is on theother hand not anymore available at congested airports we would assume that airlines offerflights with more seats in order to cope with demand. Analysis of developments offrequencies and average seat capacity at congested and not yet congested airports has shownthat the hypothesis of bigger aircraft in congested situations is valid in most instances;;however;;not at all airports. London Heathrow is the most congested airport (with the highestcapacity utilization index) worldwide;;however;;average seat capacity did not change in thelast five years. San Diego has been the airport with the highest flight volume of a singlerunway airport;;and the average aircraft size grew by roughly 15 seats since 2006. While atthe majority of Asian and European airports with high capacity utilization average seatcapacity of flights has grown in the past that was not the case at most high volume airports inthe US. The objective of the paper is to report on the thorough analysis of the development ofaverage seat capacity at congested airports – as contrasted to the situation at not yet congestedairports - and to find out about the reasons for airlines to increase the number of seats atcongested airports;;by means of statistical analysis reflecting variables like flight volume;;degree of congestion and network development.