The Consequences of De-hubbing for Airports and Tourism - a Case Study

Abstract

The size of airports depends on passenger traffic to and from that city as well as the number of passengers connecting from one flight to another flight. When hub airports lose a significant amount of connecting flights (‘de-hubbing’), their growth is negatively affected and in many cases does not reach previous levels. This has serious implications for the airport operator as well as the tourism industry, which may lose incoming visitors from markets no longer connected to the airport. The case of de-hubbing of Budapest airport of February 2012 shows that under certain circumstances, very good traffic recovery rates can be achieved. Important drivers for the recovery rate are the type of airline taking over lost routes, the demand for inbound tourism and capacity offered on selected markets, and the dominance of a certain type of airline (alliance/low cost). This paper extends the research done by Redondi et al. (2012), but also has relevance for airport and tourism managers faced with airline bankruptcy and policy makers.

Keywords: tourism, competition, airline bankruptcy, airport management