Analysis of the interaction between air transportation and economic activity : a worldwide perspective

Air transportation usage and economic activity are interdependent. Air transportation provides employment and enables certain economic activities which are dependent on the availability of air transportation services. The economy, in turn, drives the demand for air transportation services resulting in the feedback relationship between the two. The objective of this work is to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between air transportation and economic activity. More specifically, this work seeks to (1) develop a feedback model to describe the relationship between air transportation and economic activity and (2) identify factors which stimulate or suppress air transportation development. To achieve these objectives this work uses an exploratory research method which combines literature review, aggregate data and case study analyses. First, this work uses data at the individual country level to identify different types of growth patterns between air transportation passengers and GDP for 139 countries. This analysis is then used to identify twenty-two representative countries which span a range of possible interaction behaviors, geographies and income categories. The case study analysis at the individual country level is performed to describe the air transportation impact for each individual economy. These findings help develop a feedback model which describes the relationship between air transportation and economic activity.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Ishutkina, Mariya A. (Mariya Aleksandrovna)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• R. John Hansman.

• Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/49882

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/49882