Airport Location and the Intensity of Urban Concentration

Abstract

Using data gathered from domestic public-use airports in the Philippines, a model of the inter-relationships among quantitative measures of airport accessibility, air passenger movement, and the configuration of urban space around airports was calibrated. Surveys on selected airports confirmed that a stable airport hinterland exists, which is significantly related to trip origins of departing air passengers. A measure of airport accessibility based on the location of population centers at specific distances from the airport is thus defined. Data from multi-airport regions show that population density around airports in the Philippines follow a systematic decay function, suggesting a pattern of concentration near the airport. This pattern can be adequately predicted by a function of airport accessibility index, characterizing the observed trend towards settlement concentration around airports.