Evolution and Development of Multi-Airport Systems:

This paper presents an analysis of the dynamics of evolution of multi-airport systems worldwide that can help to guide their effective development in the future. Given the capacity constraints on existing major airports, the development of multi-airport systems is going to be a key mechanism by which air transportation systems around the world will be able to meet future demand. In order to better understand how these systems will evolve, a systematic case study analysis of 59 airport systems worldwide was performed. The analysis showed significant differences in the evolution of multi-airport systems across world regions. In the United States and in Europe, the recent development of multi-airport systems primarily involved the emergence of secondary airports. This dynamic was driven by the entry of low-cost carriers seizing the opportunity of using existing airport infrastructure but also by the barriers and opposition to the construction of green field airports. In Asia, multi-airport systems have generally evolved through the construction of new high capacity airports, due to a much weaker set of available airports, high perceived benefits of strong growth of traffic and weaker opposition to the construction of airports. This study suggests that, in the United States and in Europe, protecting existing under-utilized airports will be key to meeting future demand. In Asia, where the existing under-utilized airport infrastructure is weak and where projections of high volume of demand are high, there is the need to apply a dynamic approach to develop multi-airport systems by reserving land area that can later be developed into airports. DOI: .... CE Database subject headings: Air transportation system, Multi-airport systems, Secondary airports, Airport planning.