Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.8, 2011

Analysis of Surface Access System for Airport Based on SP and RP Survey

Jing LU Zhongzhen YANG Doctor student Professor Transportation Management College Transportation Management College Dalian Maritime University Dalian Maritime University 1, Road, Dalian, 1, Linghai Road, Dalian, China +86-0411-84726756 +86-0411-84726756 Fax: +86-0411-84726756 Fax: +86-0411-84726756 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: In a multi-airport area, a successful surface access system can increase the market share of each airport in the competition. Therefore, in order to know the factors which influence the passengers’ airport-choosing behavior and their demands on the access system, this paper applied the RP and SP survey from the view of airport. Through analysis of the importance of impact factors, the rational coach frequency and the ticket price, and comparison of the airport-choosing behaviors in the cases of with and without the access system, we found that the accessibility to the airport is the most important factor affecting the airport selection, while access system can hardly affect the choice when the location advantage is relatively low. Thus, the airport should take the location advantage into account when improves its access system.

Key words: airport, surface access system, SP survey, RP survey

1. BACKGROUNDS

In 2009, the total turnover of China civil aviation reached 42.71 billion Ton-kilometers, the passenger transportation volume reached 4.9 billion, the cargo and mail transportation volume reached 9.45 million tons, which was respectively 1.5, 4 and 3.7 times of those in the year of 2002. There are 166 civil airports in the whole country and the density has increased from 1.4 airports per 0.1 million square kilometers to 4.8 airports per 0.1 million square kilometers in last 10 years. Under this level of density, hinterlands of several airports overlap with each other and the competition between airports becomes fierce. Thus, each airport proposes some methods to attract more passengers, such as setting up more air lines, signing contracts with more air line companies and developing the surface access system.

Among them, airports in China paid more attention to the surface access system recently, because they think it can improve their competitive power (Jou, 2010). For example, in 2007, Dalian airport established an operating terminal in and provided the free shuttle bus between Yingkou and Dalian airport. As it is operated well, Dalian airport wants to set some new remote terminals and enlarge its regional shuttle bus network. Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.8, 2011

Because the objective of this method is to provide the passengers better service, it is necessary to study the importance of the access system, the expected system structure and the impacts induced by the system from view of the passengers.

Recently, as Dalian airport plans to build the surface access system to improve the accessibility from the potential hinterlands to the airport, we take this opportunity to implement the SP and RP survey to collect the data from the view of the passengers, The survey includes three parts: survey in Dalian airport, survey on citizen in the surrounding cities who often travel by air and survey on the Yingkou-Dalian shuttle bus.

2. CURRENT HINTERLAND AND SURFACE ACCESS SYSTEM

2.1 Current Hinterland of Dalian Airport Dalian airport which is surrounded by sea on three sides is located in the south tip in Province. Fig.1 shows its current hinterland. The hinterland only contains the cities in the northeast direction. We can see that almost all passengers from Pulandian,, Bayuquan, and choose Dalian airport. However, in , Yingkou, and , passengers choosing Dalian airport are less than that choosing airport. And passengers in cities such as , , and , which is far from Dalian airport, basically choose Shenyang airport.

choosing Dalian airport choosing Shenyang airport

Figure 1 Daily Passenger Volumes to Dalian and Shenyang Airports Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.8, 2011

2.2 Current Surface Access System In Figure2 we can see that the highway connecting Dalian and other cities mainly includes Dandong-Dalian expressway, Shenyang-Hainandao expressway, G201 national highway, G202 national highway and G305 national highway and Yingkou-Dalian highway. Thus, the road network is almost perfect, while there is no through bus between surrounding cities and Dalian airport except the Yingkou-Dalian shuttle bus operated by Dalian airport itself. Therefore, passengers from other cities can only arrive at Dalian airport by the combination of railway or coach and urban transport. It makes the passengers waste a lot of time. Under this circumstance, citizen in the other cities feel it is difficult to go to Dalian airport.

Figure 2 Road network surrounding Dalian

3. RP/SP SURVEY

3.1 Survey Content The details of the RP and SP survey are shown in Table 1. The RP survey contents mainly consist of the passenger’s basic information and the current trip information. The later mainly contains the origin, destination, trip purpose, factors influencing airport-choosing etc. The SP survey contents contain the passengers’ airport-choosing preference and the rational surface access system.

Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.8, 2011

Table1 Details of the RP and SP survey Survey Contents Details Gender, Age, Income Passengers’ basic information …… RP Times of traveling by air per year Current trip information Purposes of traveling by air Survey in …… Dalian airport Factors influencing the airport- choosing behavior SP Airport-choosing Preference The hoped ticket price of shuttle- bus …… Gender, Age, Income Passengers’ basic information …… RP Times of traveling by air per year Current trip information Current airport choosing behavior Survey in …… surrounding cities Factors influencing the airport- choosing behavior SP Airport-choosing Preference Airport choosing behavior with- the shuttle bus …… Gender, Age, Income Passengers’ basic information …… Survey on RP The satisfaction to the shuttle bus Current trip information Yingkou-Dalian …… Hoped frequency of the shuttle- shuttle bus SP Airport-choosing Preference bus ……

3.2 Survey Method ¾ survey in Dalian airport We carried out this survey in April, May and June respectively. The survey was carried out as follows: we applied to make the VIP security check entrance as the special entrance for the passengers from Yingkou, Panjin and Dangdong. In front of the security check entrance, we set up a survey area and display a notice board of “specific entrance for passengers from Yingkou, Panjin and Dandong”. We interviewed the passengers before they passed the security check entrance and reclaimed back the questionnaires on the spot.

¾ survey in surrounding cities We interviewed the citizens who often travel by air in the surrounding cities.

¾ survey on the Yingkou-Dalian shuttle bus Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.8, 2011

We interviewed the passengers on the shuttle bus.

4. DATA ANALYSIS OF SURVEY in DALIAN AIRPORT

The survey in Dalian airport lasted the longest and is the most comprehensive one. Its RP survey data can reveal the passenger flow from Yingkou, Panjin and Dandong, the current number of passengers who choose Dalian airport and Shenyang airport in these three cities and the importance of each factor which influences the passengers’ airport-choosing behavior. The SP survey data can reveal the expected shuttle bus frequency and ticket price of the surface access system.

4.1 Data Analysis of RP Survey 4.1.1 Basic Information The ratio of passengers from Yingkou, Panjin and Dadong is 76:18:6. The ratio of male to female is 46 to 54, the ages are skewed distribution and the peak value appears when the age is between 22 and 34. The surveyed passengers belong to 72 airlines. These airlines account for 60% of the total airlines in Dalian airport and their courses are mainly to , , , , , , Nanning, , , , , and . Basically, they are the airlines flying from Dalian to the Southern part of China. The number of passengers of each airline is shown in Figure 3.

Because of the EXPO2010, passengers to Shanghai account for 30%, and they are almost the grouped travelers. In addition, compared with Shenyang airport, Dalian airport is superior in the airlines from Dalian to Guangzhou, Kunming and Shenzhen, thus passengers of these airlines are obviously more than those of other airlines. When the airport wants to operate the access system, it should pay attention to these characteristics of the passenger flow (Hess, 2007). 250

200

150

100

50

0 Chongqin Ningbo Shengzhen Shanghai Chengdu Jinan Changsha Nannin Qingdao Beijing Kunming Guangzhou Xiamen

Figure 3 Passenger Destination The trip purpose of different users in terms of profession is shown in Figure 4. We can see that Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.8, 2011 in all the passengers, the institution employees account for 31.3%, the individual business men and freelancers account for 20.6%, the trip purpose of them mainly concentrates on official duty and tourism. The middle-senior and ordinary workers account for 10.2% and 16.4% respectively, they basically travel for official business. The students account for 5.3%, their trip purpose is going to school. Finally, the retired staffs and people without occupation account for 5.1%, their trip purpose is mainly visiting their relatives. official duty / business tourism visit relatives go to school others individual business men and freelancers

people with no occupation

retired staff

senior worker

junior worker

institution emloyee

student

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% Figure 4 Trip purposes of passengers in terms of profession

4.1.2 Travel Mode of the Access Trips Travel mode of the access trips from Yingkou, Panjin and Dangdong to Dalian airport is shown in Figure 5. We can see that in Yingkou city, above 60% of the surveyed passengers choose the shuttle bus, which indicates that the shuttle bus is popular and can encourage the local citizen choosing Dalian airport. Some passengers from Panjin also use the Yingkou-Dalian airport shuttle bus. They determine to transfer to the shuttle bus in Yingkou city to Dalian airport. It is because that this method is cheaper and more convenient. Thus, if there was a shuttle bus between Panjin and Dalian airport, they will be happier to choose Dalian airport. In addition, most of the passengers from Panjin and Dandong arrive at Dalian airport by self-driving or coach, high price and too many transfers make it inconvenience (Koo, 2010). The shuttle bus operated by Dalian airport can change this situation and help the airport to attract more passengers. Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.8, 2011

shuttle bus taxi self-drive train coach Dandong

Panjin

Yingkou

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90 Figure 5 Travel Modes of the Access Trips

4.1.3 Factors Influencing Airport-Choosing Behavior The answer of the factors which influence the airport-choosing behavior is shown in Figure 6. Passengers who consider the convenience to the airport is the most important factor account for 53%. Passengers who think the ticket price is the most important thing account for 24%. Passengers who feel the flight schedule is the most attractive factor account for 12%. And passengers who consider the flight number is the most important thing account for 7%. Moreover, there are some other influencing factors such as the environment of the airport city, the individual preference and etc.

We can see that the surface access system is important in attracting the passengers, because it is the most important factor influencing the airport-choosing behavior. In addition, the factors like flight schedule and airline numbers also have great effect on the choice of the airport. Finally, according to the individual preference, Dalian airport should work hard to attract more passengers with its urban environment.

60%

40%

20%

0% airline number air ticket price flight schedule convenience to airport others Figure 6 Factors influencing the airport-choosing behavior

Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.8, 2011

4.2 Data Analysis of the SP Survey Data analysis of the SP survey of passengers from Yingkou, Dadong and Panjin mainly concentrate on the rational bus frequency and ticket price. According to the demand on the shuttle bus, we gave out 5 kinds of bus frequency and ticket price respectively. After analyzing the frequency and ticket price simultaneously, we get the rational frequency–price combination. The frequency–price combination of passengers from Yingkou is shown in Figure 7. It shows 32.5% of the passengers think the rational time headway should be over two hours, 30% of them think it is 2 hours and 37.5% of them think the rational time headway should be less than 2 hour. We can see that most of the passengers think the reasonable time headway is about 2 hours.

For the headway-price combination, 16.7% of the passengers choose the combination of the headway of over 2 hours and ticket price of 40 Yuan. 18.7% of the passengers choose the combination of the headway of 2 hours and ticket price of 40 Yuan. Therefore, the combination of 2 hours and 40 Yuan is most suitable. In addition, some passengers point out that even if the ticket price is over 100 Yuan, they will still choose the shuttle bus.

The opinions on the frequency-price combinations of passenger from Panjin and Dandong are shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9. They are similar to that of passengers from Yingkou. 40% 100yuan 60yuan 40yuan 20yuan

30%

20%

10%

0% -2 hours 2 hours 1.5 hours 1 hour 0.5 hour Figure 7 Opinions on the Frequency-Price Combinations of Passenger from Yingkou Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.8, 2011

40% 100yuan 60yuan 40yuan 20yuan

30%

20%

10%

0% -2 hours 2 hours 1.5 hours 1 hour 0.5 hour Figure 8 Opinions on the Frequency-Price Combinations of Passenger from Panjin 40% 100yuan 60yuan 40yuan 20yuan

30%

20%

10%

0% -2 hours 2 hours 1.5 hours 1 hour 0.5 hour Figure 9 Opinions on the Frequency-Price Combinations of Passenger from Dandong

5. DATA ANALYSIS OF THE SURVEY IN SURROUNDING CITIES The data analysis of the survey in surrounding cities mainly concentrate on the SP survey, and the key point is to study the airport choosing behavior in the cases of with and without the access system. After statistical analysis, we get the proportions of passengers who choose Dalian airport in the cases of with and without the access system. The results are shown in Figure 10. Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.8, 2011

100% without with 80%

60%

40%

20%

0% Dandong Yingkou Panjin Figure 10 Proportions of Passengers Choosing Dalian Airport We can see that if the Dalian airport operates shuttle bus for Yingkou, Panjin and Dandong, over 50% passengers of the total flight travelers in the three cities will choose Dalian airport. Comparing to the without situation, in Dandong the proportion will change from 34% to 58%, in Panjin the proportion will change from 26% to 82%, while in Yingkou the proportion will change from 48% to 808%.

The increased parts both in Panjin and in Yingkou are more than that in Dandong. It may because that for Dandong the location of Dalian airport has less advantage than Shenyang airport. Thus, we think Dalian airport should not neglect the location advantage of Shenyang airport when they plan to operate shuttle bus in Dandong, they should market in Dandong step by step and avoid unreasonable investment (Ishii, 2008)".

The analysis also indicates that there are 40% of the passengers in Yingkou who have no idea of the shuttle bus. It may imply that Dalian airport is short of publicity in Yingkou. Therefore, if the airport wants to operate shuttle bus in Panjin and Dandong, it should propagate the service actively to shorten the time of market development (Marcucci, 2011).

6. DATA ANALYSIS OF THE SURVEY ON YINGKOU-DALIAN SHUTTLE BUS

Data analysis of the survey on Yingkou-Dalian shuttle bus concentrates on the RP survey data, and the key point is to study the satisfaction degree of the passengers on the shuttle bus. It can be found that passengers who generally satisfied the shuttle bus account for 98.7%. They think the shuttle bus is convenient and can shorten the time distance to Dalian airport.

We show the passengers four kinds of designed time headway to let them compare them with the current one which is 4 hours. Passengers thought the current headway is too long, and 38.5% of them thought it should be shorten to 2 hours, 29.2% of them thought it should be shorten to 1 hours and 32.3% of them thought other headways are suitable. The result is as Figure 11. It can be rationally said that the airport should control the time headway around 2 hours. Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.8, 2011

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% 2 hours 1.5hours 1 hour 0.5 hour Figure 11 Opinions on the time headway of passengers in Yingkou

7. CONCLUSION

Through analyzing the RP survey data, we found that convenience to the airport is the most important factor which influences the airport-choosing. Thus, in order to attract more passengers from hinterland, the airports should pay great attention to the surface access system. However, the location advantage of the neighboring airports should not be neglected. The airport should develop the access system rationally. In addition, if an airport wants to develop the surface access system, they should understand its own features and know the passengers information clearly.

From the analysis of the SP survey data, it is found that the price and headway of the existing intercity coach is generally thought as the standard criteria. The determination of the bus headway and ticket price should refer to them. If the airport can set up an access system which can satisfy the passengers as well as the demands of the airport, its market share in a common hinterland of several airports will increase a lot.

REFERENCES

Edoardo Marcucci and Valerio Gatta (2011) Regional airport choice: Consumer behavior and policy implications, Journal of Transport Geography, Vol.19, No.1, 70-84. Jun Ishii, Sunyoung Jun and Kurt Van Dender (2008) Air travel choices in multi-airport markets, Journal of Urban Economics, Vol.65, No.2, 216-227. Rong-Chang Jou, David A. Hensher and Tzu-Lan Hsu (2010) Airport ground access mode choice behavior after the introduction of a new mode: A case study of Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan, Transportation Research Part E, doi: 10.1016/j.tre.2010.11.008. Stephane Hess, Thomas Adler and John W. Polak (2007) Modelling airport and airline choice behaviour with the use of stated preference survey data, Transportation Research Part Proceedings of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.8, 2011

E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol.43, No.3, 221-223. Tay T.R. Koo, Cheng-Lung (Richard) Wu and Larry Dwyer (2010) Ground travel mode choices of air arrivals at regional destinations: The significance of tourism attributes and destination contexts, Research in Transportation Economics, Vol.26, No.1, 44-53.