Spatial-Temporal Analysis of Recent Air Passenger Flows

Airline mergers and acquisitions (MAs) are on the rise across the globe and have been a growing trend in the U.S. aviation industry in the last few years. MAs are taking several factors into consideration, such as cost efficiency, competition, and geographic coverage. For airlines, these transactions can eliminate overlapping routes and help reduce competition, leading airlines to achieve higher operating margins. For travelers, MAs often lead to lesser flight frequency, higher airfares or longer travel miles. To explore spatial-temporal variations from airline and passenger perspectives, this paper focuses on 55 major airports in the 50 largest cities between 2000 and 2010. The detailed results of passenger flow patterns suggest that some airports have more spatial imbalance than others in terms of passenger travel distances. Further, the findings indicate that the MAs have different effects on passenger flows and traveled distances, and the effect is complexly related to the airport’s spatial status.