2013 to see less passengers and flights, shift to GA airports
January 11, 2013, 01:36 pm
A recent report by Boyd Group International showed that airports might not have as long of lines in the new year as the number of passengers and flights are likely to decline.
The report predicts that in 2013, passenger traffic in the air transportation system will decrease by 1.5 to 2 percent. It also notes that the Federal Aviation Administration is overestimating its forecast for passenger traffic in 2017 by nearly 50 million passengers.
"Airline traffic can no longer be forecast simply with mathematical formulas based on metrics such as GDP, inflation, buying power and the like," said Michael Boyd, chairman of the Boyd Group. "There are only 10 major full-schedule airline systems left, and each has its own subjective strategy in regard to where and if it adds capacity."
General aviation airports
Boyd went on to add that there is a shift toward flying smaller airplanes in the general aviation community, as the group expects by 2017 U.S. airliners will have retired 1,000 50-seat airplanes.
According to Craig Spence, secretary general of the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations, there are 5,261 public use airports in the United States.
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