When it comes to air travel, there are countless airport code combinations representing various flight routes, such as JFK-LAX and LAX-SFO. But for transportation planners aiming to enhance landside operations at airports, there's a bigger question - “where are these people actually traveling between?”. Passengers flying from JFK to LAX certainly don’t live at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens (New York City), nor are they destined for a week of fun or meetings at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles. Journeys involving air travel almost never actually begin or end at the airport. The trip might begin at home, an office, a house of a friend or relative, or even a hotel or convention center. Likewise, the journey is more likely to end at a resort, campus, office, or back at the traveler’s own home.
Landside Airport Planning Has Evolved Over The Years
Landside airport planning has evolved greatly over the years. It’s no longer just about drop-off and pickup of passengers. Planners now focus on a host of transportation options that leverage the complete transportation networks surrounding airports. These options include personal automobiles, private drivers (i.e., taxis, TNCs, shuttles, and limousines), public transportation, and even aerial service offered from niche aerial transport providers.
Travel Patterns of Outbound Passengers and Inbound Vary
While outbound passengers typically arrive at an airport gradually, over the course of a few hours before their flight’s departure time, inbound passengers typically leave the airport over a shorter period of time. Therefore, the concentrations of outbound and inbound passengers vary greatly. It’s also important to understand the dynamic of inbound passengers that are flying through the airport, on a connecting flight destined somewhere else. In fact, many of these people have no impact on landside operations outside of the terminal through which they are traveling.
What Airport Planners Need to Understand
Understanding how people arrive at and leave the airport is vital for effective landside airport planning. Airport planners need to know if travelers drive themselves, get dropped off, use private transport services, or rely on public transit. Equally important is understanding where these passengers come from before reaching the airport and where they are headed after leaving the airport. AirSage's industry-leading location data can answer these critical questions.
AirSage Can Help
With AirSage, airport planners gain access to location-based services (LBS) data generated by millions of smartphones nationwide. This allows them to see the complete journey patterns of passengers, enabling better-informed decision-making and ultimately more efficient landside airport operations. To learn more about how AirSage can help optimize airport planning, visit www.airsage.com!
