Which investments and policy measures make sense from an economic and societal point of view and how can they be best designed? For instance, what benefits does the expansion of an airport bring for passengers and the aviation industry? And how do these benefits compare to additional noise nuisance for local residents and damage to the climate?

A social cost-benefit analysis (SCBA) maps out the impacts of investments and policy decisions on society. By expressing the impacts in monetary terms as much as possible they become comparable.

Beelining has extensive experience with SCBAs in an aviation context and contributed to the official guidelines for aviation SCBAs in the Netherlands.

What is the economic impact of an airport or airline?

An economic impact assessment shows to what extent an airport or airline contributes to employment and GDP. Often the contribution is broken down by type of stakeholder:

• Direct impact: the contribution of the aviation industry
• Indirect impact: the contribution of suppliers
• Induced impact: the contribution of spending by employees

Beelining contributed to various impact assessments around the globe.

How will the demand for air services develop over time? And what share of total demand can be accommodated at an airport or a country taking into account applicable restrictions (in terms of air transport movements, noise and emissions)?

The demand for aviation depends on various factors such as population growth, average income and price. The supply is determined by the airlines, but can be constrained by national and international policies.

Traffic forecasts are used for planning investments, but also as inputs for SCBAs and impact assessments when estimating the impacts of policy decisions.

Beelining has extensive experience in drawing up transport prognoses for aviation. The influence of trends and developments, such as cost increases, capacity restraints and changing passenger preferences are explicitly taken into account.

What trends and developments are taking place within the aviation industry and how do they affect future supply and demand?

How will the increasing climate awareness, digitalisation of processes and videoconferencing change the industry in terms of costs and passenger behaviour? And how will this affect demand and the composition of air traffic in the future.

Market analysis is used to reshape business models and as input for traffic forecasts.

Thanks to years of experience within the sector, beelining is not only aware of the latest trends and developments, but can also correctly interpret their effects on supply and demand.

How do policies and investments affect an airport’s revenues, costs, profits and (regulated) charges?

Airports are characterised by high fixed costs and largely variable revenues. Consequently, changes in traffic volumes have a direct effect on profits and the regulated charges.

How do policy measures such as an air passenger tax or movement cap impact an airport’s revenues, costs, profits and charges?

Beelining uses a financial model to estimate the impacts.