Evaluating the Competitiveness for Major International Airports in Northeast Asia

The rapid growth of air passenger demand and competition among major international airports in Asia has raised governments’ attention to re-examine their dual-airport or multiple-airport policy. The purpose of this study is to investigate the current development and determine the factors influencing the competitive strength of routes between the international hub airports in Northeast Asia and other airports at local cities based on passenger demand, airlines, and airport attributes. A demand competitive indicator is proposed to present the competitiveness and connectivity of selected routes connecting to Narita and Incheon International Airports. In order to clarify the relationship between the demand competitive indicator and components, we used a multivariate regression approach. The results of the analysis show that air passengers in local cities could more convenient connections using Incheon as the hub airport for reaching destination overseas. While Korean airline companies have applied and operated for the routes between Incheon Airport and local airports in Japan, which attracts air passengers to use Incheon as hub airport for their overseas itineraries, Narita offered limited domestic flight service but focuses its operation connecting to most major airports in Japan with higher passenger demand.