Nationwide, there is an effort to improve small airport facilities for reducing demand and congestion at primary commercial airports. Identifying the factors that are associated with operations can help decision makers select new airport sites, choose between airport improvement alternatives, and anticipate future service needs. There are many local benefits of attracting aircraft traffic, as operations are often associated with positive economic impacts. This research seeks to identify airport service and contextual variables that have strong associations with general aviation aircraft operations, in which an operation is defined as one aircraft landing or departing. It builds on the existing literature by incorporating aspects of land use, ground access, economic productivity, and regional transportation factors into a robust operations model. Data from multiple sources were combined using a geographic information system to create a unique longitudinal data set providing a comprehensive view of 41 North Carolina airports over a 12-year period, from 1988 to 1999. Fixed- and random-effects regression models were estimated, and many of the hypothesised factors associated with operations, including local population, surrounding commercial development, and available aviation services, were found to be statistically significant. Understanding these factors is useful for airport system planning, from anticipating future demand to attracting general aviation operations away from congested, primary airports.
Abstract