Changes in air transport can have important effects on regional development. Whilst traffic level’s growth can create important congestion at major airports, remote regions can themselves suffer from the lack of service on thin routes. At times where the pandemic has affected even more the air transport sector, understanding the relationship between air transport and regional development is essential to better support economic competitiveness and social cohesion in Europe.
COST Action ‘Air Transport and Regional Development’ (ATARD) focused on this specific topic to help drive clearer policy recommendations on how air transport infrastructure and service improvements should be made. Running from 2015 to 2019, the Action gathered a wide variety of professions and backgrounds from 33 countries and looked at the constitution of a network of researchers dedicated to air transport and its economic, social and environmental implications aligned with Europe 2020 strategy.
Launch of first publications on air transport and regional development
So far, there were no source publication covering this area in such a comprehensive manner. But the work performed by this network led to the publication in last December 2020 of three key inter-related books [1] covering the most important themes explored during the Action. These books (‘Air Transport and Regional Development Methodologies’; ‘Air Transport and Regional Development Case Studies’; ‘Air Transport and Regional Development Policies’) were completed before the coronavirus pandemic, but the issues discussed remain very relevant.
The books draw from experienced researchers in the field, they complement each other and fill a much-needed gap. They present a multi-sector (airports, airlines, air navigation services, government organisations) and geographically Europe-wide coverage of both remote and core regions to fully explore all critical issues related to the linkages between air transport and regional development.
The three books focus on methodological approaches, case studies related to air transport and regional development, and policy implications. In March 2020 the special Issue ‘Air Transport Markets, Strategies and Policies‘ was published in ‘Research in Transportation Economics’, Vol 79 [2] covering eleven contributions discussed in the ATARD workshops.
Outcomes: from policy recommendations to solving the chicken and egg problem
One of the challenges in this area is to identify whether air transport is causing regional development or the opposite. Thanks to the networking enabled by this COST Action, a rigorous method was put together, addressing the chicken and egg problem.
COST Action ATARD also helped analysing best practices to develop air transport and tourism. Its work also focused at supporting policies’ discussions to increase connectivity of remote and core regions.
“Governments should apply different policies and/or different percentages of discounts according to the specific characteristics of routes since, depending on the proportion of resident passengers on the route, carriers will prefer different strategies, and the effectiveness of the public policy will be critically affected” as mentioned in the Chapter 1 of the book ‘Air Transport and Regional Development Policies’.
Finally, the work performed under ATARD concludes that Cost Benefit Analysis and Computable General Equilibrium is recommended instead of Economic Impact Analysis to assess investments in air transport infrastructure.
More info:
COST Action ATARD on COST’s website here
COST Action ATARD website here
[1] Details of the books can be found from the following links:
https://www.routledge.com/Air-Transport-and-Regional-Development-Methodologies/Graham-Adler-Betancor-Bilotkach-Calderon-Martini-Niemeier-Pais-Antunes/p/book/9780367076498
https://www.routledge.com/Case-Studies-in-Air-Transport-and-Regional-Development/Graham-Adler-Niemeier-Betancor-Pais-Antunes-Bilotkach-Calderon-Martini/p/book/9780367533137
https://www.routledge.com/Air-Transport-and-Regional-Development-Policies/Graham-Adler-Niemeier-Betancor-Antunes-Bilotkach-Calderon-Martini/p/book/9780367533144
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/research-in-transportation-economics/vol/79/suppl/C