Evolution of long-distance students’ mobility: the role of the air transport service in Italy Mattia Cattaneo1,, Paolo Malighetti1, Stefano Paleari1, Renato Redondi2 1Department of Engineering, University of Bergamo 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Brescia Abstract This paper studies the impact of the air transport service on university accessibility. Relying on the population of Italian airports and Italian traditional universities in the period 2003- 2012, we find that improving air transportation connectivity (travel speed, presence of airports alternatives, presence of low cost carriers) increases the accessibility to university for long-distance students-i.e., students living on a distance of at least 300 km from the university of attendance. Second, we find that the evolution of the air transport service has played a role in facilitating higher education accessibility. Over the last decade, the air transport service has moderated the negative impact of the distance on universities’ attractiveness, providing to long-distance students more university alternatives. Keywords: Air transport; Accessibility; Higher education, Low-cost carriers; Italy, Gravity model Contact author:
[email protected]. Via Pasubio 7b, 24044 Dalmine (BG), Italy; Tel.: 035 2052093; Fax: +39 035 2052077. 1. Introduction In the last decades, the evolution of transport services have profoundly transformed the mobility and accessibility towards urban and rural areas, especially considering long-distance trips (Garmendia et al., 2011).