Airline route developments: a review of history
Journal: Air Transport Management
Author: William M. Swan
Published: 2002
Abstract
Airline route networks can carry growing traffic volumes by using larger airplanes, by adding frequencies on existing routes, and by adding new routes. The natural expectation has been that growth will come in all three dimensions in the listed order of importance. The last 15 years of route growth suggests otherwise. Growth has been accompanied by shifts to smaller airplane sizes. New routes have been about as strong a development as added frequencies on existing routes. It seems that network growth patterns cannot be anticipated based on intuition alone. Such unexpected results require substantial evidence in support plus some explanation of the reasons why. This paper offers data and some explanations that begin the discussion.
