Multicriteria Spatial Decision Analysis for the Development of the Italian Minor Airport System

The infrastructures supporting air transport throughout the world in the civil sector are classified as primary-level (large numbers of passengers and goods on both commercial and charter long- and medium-haul flights) and secondary-level (few passengers and goods on general aviation private, short-haul flights). In parallel with primary-level air traffic general growth all over the world and in Italy, the popularity of “individual” nonscheduled general aviation traffic increased in many countries since 1990s. The latter aviation has proved to be a valid alternative to rail and road transport for short-medium distance journeys (100-500 km) for classes of business and tourist passengers. In keeping with the national and international airport system development scenarios, the paper illustrates the results of in-depth analyses aiming to construct an integrated GIS-based Multicriteria Decision Analysis evaluation methodology. It gears towards formulating strategies for the development and streamlining of some existing (51) Italian minor airports and for the right locations for the new hubs required to construct an efficient second-level air transport network (the “highway in the sky”). Different levels of evaluation verify the suitability of airport services and infrastructure (status quo) and the attractiveness of airport hubs given the territorial facilities found in their catchment areas.