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The (mis)fortunes of exceeding a small local air market: Comparing A msterdam and B russels
Author(s) -
Burghouwt Guillaume,
Dobruszkes Frédéric
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1467-9663
pISSN - 0040-747X
DOI - 10.1111/tesg.12085
Subject(s) - service (business) , business , catchment area , air transport , aviation , rank (graph theory) , air travel , industrial organization , economic geography , marketing , economics , drainage basin , geography , transport engineering , engineering , cartography , mathematics , combinatorics , aerospace engineering
Comparing air service growth in A msterdam and B russels, this paper aims to understand how the strategies of airlines and public authorities allow certain medium‐sized cities to succeed in exceeding their local market by connecting passengers, while others do not. In contrast to B russels, A msterdam has become one of the most air serviced European cities, reaching a highly disproportionate level of service given both its size and its airport catchment area. A msterdam has reached its rank thanks to a successful, global hub‐and‐spokes strategy led by KLM and its partners. Such a success story would have been impossible without support from the State pursuing the expansion of numerous, liberal bilateral air service agreements and a regional development strategy which facilitated the expansion of A msterdam S chiphol airport in the 1990s. Finally, this paper shows how public and corporate governances might be able to convert themselves to the rules of the market economy.