Title
The Full Cost of Air Travel
Publisher
Transportation Research Board
Abstract
In this paper we review the theoretical and empirical literature on the cost structure of the provision of air transportation and specify and estimate our own cost functions. We develop a full cost model which identifies the key cost components and then we measure those costs component by component: user costs, carrier costs, infrastructure costs, time and congestion costs, noise costs, accident costs, and pollution costs. Applying the models to data for domestic air travel in the California Corridor, the total long run average cost is estimated to be $0.13 per passenger kilometer traveled. The single largest cost category is owning and operating a plane. In general, because of large fixed cost components, the average cost of infrastructure exceeds the marginal cost.
Identifiers
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3141/1662-01
Previously Published Citation
Gillen David and David Levinson (1999) The Full Cost of Air Travel. Transportation Research Record :Journal of the Transportation Research Board 1662 1-9.
Funding information
California Department of Transportation,
California High Speed Rail Commission,
Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Suggested Citation
Gillen, David; Levinson, David M.
(1999).
The Full Cost of Air Travel.
Transportation Research Board.
Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy,
https://hdl.handle.net/11299/179866.