Demand of Rail Mode in Airport Ground Access Market: A Case Study in Hong Kong

This paper focuses on investigating the demand of the rail mode for airport ground access. Air passenger traffic is experiencing ever-increasing levels of demand due to worldwide economic growth. This, in turn, is leading to roadway traffic congestion near airport regions. In order to deal with the roadway traffic congestion problems, the development and enhancement of airport railway systems is a must. However, planning the establishment of a railway system and also the weighting given to a specific mode requires an intimate knowledge of passenger demand and factors affecting this demand. Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), which has its own airport railway system, is chosen for the case study in this paper. With the use of the survey data collected at HKIA, a multinomial logit model has been calibrated for identifying significant factors affecting the demand of the rail mode. The results indicated that travel cost is the key factor affecting air passenger ground access mode choice decisions. Party size and number of pieces of baggage carried by an air passenger also affect the use of the rail mode. Based on the model results, sensitivity tests were carried out so as to propose the optimal discount scheme for increasing the utilization of the rail mode for accessing the airport. It was also noted that the provision of connecting services to railway stations and the strategies to assist the passengers with baggage are critical elements of a successful rail access to an airport. It is believed that the calibrated model and proposed strategies can assist the planning of airport ground access services at international airports.