مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

Demand at an airport is rarely distributed evenly throughout the year, month and/or day. It is typically characterized by (more or less pronounced) hourly, daily and/or monthly variations. (Ashford et al., 1997). Monthly variations are typically used to determine the extent to which an airport experiences seasonal concentrations. Seasonality arises from an increase in demand, usually connected to vacation seasons (summer or winter). It may also be imposed by events related to important holidays that may differ depending on the country, region, religion, etc. (Halpern, 2011).

Eurocontrol (2007) identified 39 European seasonal airports using the traffic from 2006 as a reference. Excepting “regular” seasonal airports where seasonality is driven by the tourist season (summer or winter) among these 39, there are six airports that experienced seasonality due to special events in 2006.

Fig. 1 shows seasonal character of seven AENA airports.1 The distribution of annual departures by month for year 2011 is given in the chart (source: AENA Estadisticas, 2011). There is a clear difference between high season (usually from 4th/5th to 9th/10th month of the year) and off-season traffic. Depending on the airport, the difference can be smaller (Alicante and Malaga) or bigger (Palma de Mallorca, Murcia and Reus), or even very extreme in high season, resulting in sharp peaks (Ibiza and Menorca).