Introduction
Traditionally, aviation is an industry over which government has exerted considerable influence – not least through nationalised companies and market regulation. Over the years, the evolution of an international system of bilateral air services agreements has effectively minimised the play of market forces. Moreover, the sector is characterised by both large-scale negative external effects and positive economic impacts, particularly in the regions surrounding the home bases of major airlines. This makes the external effects of aviation an important field for economic research.
The sector has been undergoing major changes for some decades now, with governments divesting themselves of their shareholdings in national airlines, airports and air-traffic control organisations. In some cases, that has resulted in new forms of economic regulation designed to counter abuse of market power. Debates about the point of and need for privatisation projects are frequent, and the Aviation Economics section is regularly involved in such developments.
Increasingly, the traditional regulation in aviation is making way for a freer market. As a result, aviation networks have become highly dynamic with a tendency towards the creation of radial "hub-and-spoke" systems on the one hand and, on the other, new random networks based upon point-to-point connections. The latter have their origins in the rise of innovative business models made possible by the freer market, such as low-cost airlines. The modelling of such network developments is one of the greatest challenges in aviation economics research.
The recent market developments have also resulted in a tendency towards concentration, as reflected in the formation of alliances and "near-mergers" between airlines.
The rise of the hub airport raises entirely new economic issues, since the scarcity in airport capacity is increasing. Both capacity studies looking at the accommodation of wave systems at the hub and forecasting models for future capacity needs are other important fields of aviation economics research.
The tendency towards concentration, and in some cases even the bankruptcy of their home carrier, are making airports less certain of capturing a regular clientele. For this reason, marketing strategies based upon a well-developed set of transport models are beginning to become more important for them. Consequently, the Aviation Economics section is investing considerable effort in directly applicable models.
Amsterdam Aviation Economics
The section is internationally known as Amsterdam Aviation Economics and is an officially registered ICAO service supplier. For more information, see www.aaeconomics.com.
Staff
Prof Jaap de Wit is the leader of the Aviation Economics section. His expertise lies in such issues as airport privatisation, regulation and competition issues, airport strategy, capacity and network analyses, airport regulation and deregulation, benchmark studies and aviation politics.
Jan Veldhuis has been a senior researcher in the Aviation Economics section since 2001. His main areas of work are scenario analyses, forecasting and network strategies of both airports and airlines.
Dr Guillaume Burghouwt has been a researcher in the Aviation Economics section since 2004. His expertise lies in network analyses, benchmarks, airport planning and environmental planning issues related to airports.
Rogier Lieshout has been associated with this section since 2006. His background is in operations research and his work concentrates upon quantitative analyses and the construction of models related to traffic flows.
Joost Zuidberg is a researcher at the section Aviation Economics since 2007. The main emphasis of his research lies with quantative analyses and model design in the area of transport flows.
Drs. Hacer Yilmaz has been associated with this section since november 2008. Her main activity is the coordination of Airneth, the worldwide scientific network for aviation research and policy.
Contact
The contact for the Aviation Economics section is its head, Prof Jaap de Wit (j.g.dewit@uva.nl). For more contact details and further information, click here.