FAQ - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
AIRPORT OVERVIEW REPORT
2) I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE DATES?
Demand data reporting lags about 4-6 months. This reports takes the most recent quarter of demand data (as well as showing the same quarter a year earlier) and removes any market served in the same upcoming quarter. For example, if 4th Quarter 2020 is the newest quarter of demand, this report shows largest unserved markets for 4th Quarter 2021 based on schedule from 4Q2021 and demand from 4Q2020.
3) WHAT IS THE FORMAT?
#RANK; Year Quarter for traffic in PER DAY EACH WAY PASSENGERS (PDEW) (PDEW for one year earlier); Year Quarter Roundtrip Fare (Fare for one year earlier); Number of roundtrip departures/day in the same upcoming quarter, usually zero or near zero. Unserved markets are in bold.
4) HOW DOES REVENUE SORT WORK?
Market revenue is stage adjusted using an industry standard formula for comparing fares over distance. Such a formula is necessary because fares and costs do not scale with distance. There is a fixed cost to depart and reach cruising altitude related to airport costs, maintenance cost related to one operating cycle, taxi time, and increased fuel burn to reach cruising altitude (as well as the same costs for a landing). These costs do not change by distance, so a fare of $1000 for 1000 miles is much more profitable than a fare of $500 for 500 miles.
5) WHY NOT INTERNATIONAL?
There are legal restrictions imposed by the DOT that makes release of DOT international demand data on a website like this infeasible. The INTL TIER offers international data based on a different source.
6) ISN'T THERE NEWER DATA?
Because we use year earlier demand data for a quarter to compare unserved markets in that same future quarter, there can be problems with airlines that do not publish their schedule far enough ahead to appear in the proper upcoming quarter. For example, as of September 2nd, 2021, Southwest did not have a schedule published beyond the first few days of January 2022. So, while 1Q2021 demand data has been available for quite a few weeks, this report cannot roll forward to checking unserved markets for 1Q2022 because all Southwest monopoly markets would qualify as unserved.
7) WHAT IS THE MAP?
The map shows non-stop routes planned for the future quarter noted. Only the top 50 largest domestic markets are shown in the data above. A market may be served non-stop and be on the map, but not appear in the data because it is not in the top 50 largest markets. Conversely, an unserved market may appear in the data, but not appear in the map because it does not have scheduled non-stop during the period.