The European commission, in response to both congestion and pollution, sees intermodal transport as a valuable solution. It is possible that the development of intermodal transport at airports could impact air traffic levels and distribution and possibly alleviate air traffic congestion, thus also impacting pollution positively. In the first section of this paper, the different forms of intermodality are studied and it is defined more precisely what are the forms relevant to (intermodality with) air travel. The main difficulty appearing when analyzing intermodality lies in the large number of factors impacting its development and in their complex mutual influences. Studies in France and Portugal, which constitute today polar cases of transport network development in Europe, shows that intermodal infrastructure development is a necessary condition but may not prove sufficient to develop airport intermodality. The general economic environment, the competition levels on the transport markets, the transport and environmental policies as well as the air transport capacity constraints will be deciding factors in this respect. The association of the some conditions could promote the development of intermodal agreements between transport operators while other conditions would impede it. For the covering abstract please see ITRD E135207.
Abstract