Decisions related to transportation should be optimized using criteria and indicators. Although the literature shows relevant criteria and indicators in competitiveness between airports, this study intends to contribute to the airport choice theory presenting perceptible indicators to air cargo service users. In this sense, this study aims to analyze the airport choice factors for the export of perishables from Brazil. Based on criteria found within the literature, a sensitivity analysis was performed under simulation for airport choice. Specifically, using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, indicators related to time and cost criteria were compared based on interviews performed with Brazilian mango exporters. It was simulated the choice between of Brazil’s main airports used for fruit export in recent years on the basis of the selection criterion pointed out by these exporters. The results show that the prioritization or choice based on time, commonly used as a reference, can result in loss of road freight, increasing costs for access to the airport by 23%. Hence, future studies can be conducted with the purpose of verifying the relation between cost and time in the decisions for choosing specific cargo airports for exporting nonperishable products.

Introduction

The decision about which airport to use is presented as a topic of interest in air cargo transportation research (Kupfer et al., 2011, 2016) and according to Ohashi et al. (2005), this choice results from competition between airports. The literature presents several variables for measuring the performance and competitiveness of airports (Sarkis, 2000; Gillen and Lall, 2001; Pels et al., 2001; Fernandes and Pacheco, 2002; Martín-Cejas, 2002; Pels et al., 2003; Oum and Yu, 2004; Yoshida, 2004; Barros, 2008; Assaf, 2009; Chung and Han, 2013; Chung et al., 2015), such as the number of international air cargo transit lanes and gates, cargo terminal areas and aircraft flights, and cargo destination traffic. However, a lack of studies addressing indicators perceptible to users was noticed. This paper contributes to research on the relationship between air cargo exporters and airport choice in relation to perishable goods. Decisions involving product transportation encompasses two criteria, time and cost (Murakami and Matsuse, 2014). Studies show time (Zhang and Zhang, 2002; Adenigbo, 2016) and access cost (Hess and Polak, 2005; Jung and Yoo, 2016) as relevant for choosing an airport. Although the cost of access to the airport is a relevant criterion in the choice for an airport (Hess and Polak, 2005), it is noted that users of air transportation services are willing to incur additional costs if this results in less time (Loo, 2008; Jung and Yoo, 2016). Thus, the purpose of this study is to analyze the process of airport choice for the export of perishable products, specifically the export of Brazilian mango by air, identifying the criteria followed by exporters as well as the relationships the exporters hold with airports. In this sense, a survey with producers and exporters of mangoes from the São Francisco Valley, the region responsible for 85% of mangoes exported by Brazil, was performed. Through Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) analysis and using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, exporters evaluated time and cost indicators related to airport performance and access to terminals and pointed out their relevance in the choice for a cargo airport for the export of mangoes. A simulation of the choice process was performed using the International Airport Governor André Franco Montoro/Guarulhos (GRU) in São Paulo, International Airport Luís Eduardo Magalhães/Salvador (SSA) in Bahia, and International Airport Gilberto Freyre/Guararapes (REC) in Pernambuco. Section 2 provides the conceptual framework considered by air cargo agents for airport choice focusing on the criteria of time and cost. Section 3 demonstrates the method used in this research and the characterization of the object of study. Section 4 presents the decision weights from the analyzed variables. Section 5 show simulate the choice of airport from the evaluated criteria. And section 6 presents the final considerations of the research.