Travel Behavior of U.S. Domestic Airline Passengers and Its Impacts on Infrastructure Utilization

摘要

Unexpected and unannounced delays and cancellations of flights have emerged as a quasinormal phenomenon in recent months and years. The airline unreliability has become unbearable day by day. The volume of airline passengers on domestic routes in the United States has risen despite the devastating terrorist acts of September 11, 2001 while the level of service has gone down in recent years. Some speculate that this increased ridership has caused extra pressure on available infrastructure such as airports. This study investigates the nature of domestic air passenger travel demand at the airports. It also investigates the level of service provided at the airports that are explained by different measuring units. The study includes five regional airports: Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County International Airport (DTW), Cincinnati-Covington International Airport (CVG), Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE), and Toledo Express Airport (TOL). It finds that ORD, as it stands for the last decade, has been consistently providing unsatisfactory services to the passengers in terms of flight delays (both departure and arrival), luggage handling, passenger complaints, involuntary denial of boarding, etc. However, four other regional airports are doing better than ORD in providing services to the passengers.