Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Assessing the Role of Operating, Passenger, and Infrastructure Costs in Fleet Planning under Fuel Price Uncertainty

Contents:

Author Info

  • Smirti, Megan
  • Hansen, Mark
Registered author(s):

    Abstract

    Aviation system planning is challenged by the rapid increase in fuel prices and uncertainty in air traffic management (ATM) charges. As airlines decrease capacity and decommission older aircraft and aviation navigation service providers ponder new ATM charging schemes, a critical question is: which aircraft provide air transportation service for the lowest cost? This study evaluates the introduction of a minimally utilized aircraft type in the United States, the 72-seat turboprop, compared with currently operated narrow body and regional jet aircraft. Homogenous fleets of these vehicles are compared for operating, passenger preference, and ATM costs over a range of fuel prices and the minimum cost fleet mix is determined. Findings include that the regional jet exhibits a higher cost per passenger than the turboprop for the entire fuel price and stage length space when operating costs are considered alone. When passenger costs are considered in addition to operating costs, there exists an equal cost per passenger curve between these two aircraft for fuel prices below $4.00/gallon. When infrastructure costs are considered, the fuel price and stage length space where the turboprop offers a lower cost increases. The comparison of the turboprop with the narrow body shows that an equal cost curve exists under all cost combinations considered. With the introduction of ATM charging, the flat landing fee favors the narrow body, while variable ATM charges increase the space where the turboprop offers the lower cost. This analysis shows that aircraft fleet selection is highly sensitive to fuel prices, passenger costs, and ATM charging schemes.

    Download Info

    If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
    File URL: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/3xt743cv.pdf;origin=repeccitec
    Download Restriction: no

    Bibliographic Info

    Paper provided by University of California Transportation Center in its series University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers with number qt3xt743cv.

    as in new window
    Length:
    Date of creation: 01 Jul 2009
    Date of revision:
    Handle: RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt3xt743cv

    Contact details of provider:
    Postal: 109 McLaughlin Hall, Mail Code 1720, Berkeley, CA 94720-1720
    Phone: 510-642-3585
    Fax: 510-643-3955
    Email:
    Web page: http://www.escholarship.org/repec/uctc/
    More information through EDIRC

    Related research

    Keywords: Aviation; Fuel; Operating and Passenger Costs; Turboprop; Air Traffic Management Charges;

    References

    References listed on IDEAS
    Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
    as in new window
    1. Wenbin Wei & Mark Hansen, 2003. "Cost Economics of Aircraft Size," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, London School of Economics and University of Bath, vol. 37(2), pages 279-296, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Lists

    This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt3xt743cv

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Lisa Schiff).

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

    If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.