ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the general growth patterns and characteristics of air transport demand. This leads onto an assessment of the drivers of demand and a discussion of elasticities, particularly in relation to income and price. Many of the demand drivers and the associated elasticity values have been key inputs for air transport demand and forecasting models. There has been resilience and continual growth in air transport demand, albeit at a slower pace in more recent years, and a shift away from the historic dominant markets such as North America and Europe, to emerging markets in Asia. The locational factors relate to where the air transport takes place, arguably the most common feature being the distance between origin and destinations, but this can also include the attraction of the destination for leisure or business tourism markets, proximity of competing airports, and the extent of surface transport competition.
