Putting the Air Transportation System to sleep: a passenger perspective measured by passenger-generated data

TL;DR

This study introduces seven passenger-centric metrics derived from passenger-generated data to assess the impact of COVID-19 travel restrictions on the US air transportation system in near real-time.

Contribution

It proposes a novel set of metrics based on passenger data to evaluate system impacts, filling the gap left by traditional flight-centric measures.

Findings

Passenger-related metrics reveal significant system disruptions during COVID-19 restrictions.

The metrics enable near real-time monitoring of stakeholder relationships in air travel.

Passenger data provides valuable insights beyond traditional flight data.

Abstract

This paper aims at analyzing the effect on the US air transportation system of the travel restriction measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic from a passenger perspective. Flight centric data are not already publicly and widely available therefore the traditional metrics used to measure the state of this system are not yet available. Seven metrics based on three different passenger-generated datasets are proposed here. They aim to measure in close to real-time how the travel restriction measures impacted the relation between major stakeholders of the US air transportation system, namely passengers, airports and airlines.