http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34280 Sun, 19 May 2013 08:39:47 GMT 2013-05-19T08:39:47Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/78908 The Importance of Air Transportation to the U.S. Economy: Analysis of Industry Use and Proximity to Airports Stilwell, Justin; Hansman, R. John This thesis investigates broader impacts of air transportation on U.S. economic productivity, as well as market access and business location, in order to help identify how aviation supports the national economy. More traditional economic impacts are reviewed before turning to enabling impacts. Mechanisms by which air transportation might enhance economic productivity are proposed and a production model is constructed as a framework for exploring the validity of these mechanisms. Two analyses are conducted which should provide new insights to the FAA on the importance of air transportation to the U.S. economy. Focusing on the demand side of the economy, a detailed analysis of input-output (I-O) data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) identifies where air transportation appears to be especially critical to economic production. On the supply side, U.S. Census Bureau data is used to map distributions of population, business establishments, and Fortune 500 headquarters from hub airports. Additional distribution analyses are performed for cargo airports and for select metropolitan areas. Analyses of intermediate use of air transportation provide weaker evidence than initially hypothesized as to aviation’s role in supporting productivity growth. Both sets of analyses confirm that the importance of air transportation to industry is not uniform and that the government and services sectors appear to benefit from and take advantage of access to aviation more than other industry sectors. In particular, the analyses of business location relative to airports provide evidence that many service and high-value economic sectors are more concentrated near hub airports than are other industry sectors for which air transportation adds less value. Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/78908 2013-05-16T04:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/78844 Trends and Market Forces Shaping Small Community Air Service in the United States Wittman, Michael D.; Swelbar, William S. This report, Trends and Market Forces Shaping Small Community Air Service in the United States, is the first in a series of papers written under the umbrella of the MIT Small Community Air Service White Paper series. The aim of the paper series is to examine and analyze the past, current, and anticipated future trends of small community air service in the United States. The series is intended for a general audience of airline and airport executives, aviation policy makers, the news media, and anyone with an interest in the availability of commercial air service at the nation’s smaller airports. The authors of this paper series hope that these reports will serve to inform the policy debate with relevant and accurate statistical analysis, such that those responsible for deciding the future of small community air service will do so armed with factual basis for their actions. The authors of the MIT Small Community Air Service White Paper series are members of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s International Center for Air Transportation, one of the nation’s premier centers for aviation, airline, and airport research. Financial support for study authors has been provided in part by the MIT Airline Industry Consortium, an interdisciplinary group of airlines, airport councils, policy makers, and advocacy groups dedicated to improving the state of the practice of air transportation research in the United States. However, any views or analyses presented in this and all future reports are the sole opinions of the authors and do not reflect the positions of MIT Airline Industry Consortium members or MIT. Tue, 07 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/78844 2013-05-07T04:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/77136 Airport Characterization for the Adaptation of Surface Congestion Management Approaches Sandberg, Melanie; Reynolds, Tom; Khadikar, Harshad; Balakrishnan, Hamsa Surface congestion management has received increased attention worldwide, largely due to its potential to mitigate operational inefficiencies and environmental impact. Most prior efforts have focused on demonstrations of a proposed congestion management approach at a particular airport, and not on the adaptation of a particular approach to a range of airport operating environments. This paper illustrates the challenges involved with adapting any class of surface congestion management approaches to different airports. Data and case studies from Boston Logan International Airport, New York’s LaGuardia Airport and Philadelphia International Airport are used to illustrate the diversity in operating environments. The paper then proposes techniques for characterizing airport surface operations using site surveys and operational data. Finally, it shows how these characterizations can be used for the adaptation of a given congestion management approach to different airports. Fri, 15 Feb 2013 05:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/77136 2013-02-15T05:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74585 Human Factors Studies of an ADS-B Based Traffic Alerting System for General Aviation Silva, Sathya; Cho, HongSeok; Gao, Hang; Kunzi, Fabrice; Hansman, R. John Several recent high profile mid-air collisions highlight the fact that mid-air collisions are a concern for general aviation. Current traffic alerting systems have limited usability in the airport environment where a majority of mid-air collisions occur. A Traffic Situation Awareness with Alerting Application (TSAA) has been developed which uses Automatic Dependent – Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B), a Global Positioning System (GPS) based surveillance system, to provide reliable alerts in a condensed environment... Wed, 07 Nov 2012 05:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74585 2012-11-07T05:00:00Z