Model Calibration and Forecasts of Air Travel Demand with Categorized Household Socioeconomic Attributes

The objectives of this study were to (1) construct an air demand model based on household data and (2) forecast future air demand to explain the relationship between air demand and individual travel behavior. To this end, domestic passenger air travel demand at Jeju Island in South Korea was examined. A multiple regression model with numerous explanatory variables was established by examining categorized household socioeconomic data that affected air demand. The air travel demand model was calibrated for 2009–2015 based on the annual average number of visits to Jeju Island by households in certain income groups. The explanatory variable was set using a dummy variable for each household income group and the proportion of airfare to GDP per capita. Higher household income meant more frequent visits to Jeju Island, which was well-represented in the model. However, the value of the coefficient for the highest income was lower than the value for the second-highest income group. This suggested that the highest income group preferred overseas travel destinations to domestic ones. The future air demand for Jeju airport was predicted as 26,587,407 passengers in 2026, with a subsequent gradual increase to approximately 33,000,000 passengers by 2045 in this study. This study proposed an air travel demand model incorporating household socioeconomic attributes to reflect individual travel behavior, which contrasts with previous studies that used aggregate data. By constructing an air travel model that incorporated socioeconomic factors as a behavioral model, more accurate and consistent projections could be obtained.