West Virginia Commercial Air Trip Generations

A 0.7% commercial airline passenger survey was conducted in 1966 for passengers boarding at West Virginia's ten commercial airports. For the survey it was determined the greatest portion of patronage fell into the 18 to 24 age group, had an annual family income in excess of $10,000 and were college graduates. Trip generation equations, calibrated from the survey data, were developed in order to have a uniform basis for allocating airport improvement funds among many requests and for coordination of these improvements with parallel highway system investments. Forecasts of airport county commercial air trip generation relied upon automobile registration and government employment variables. The forecasted generations from West Virginia's nonairport counties were a function of airport accessibility and employment in government. It was suggested after the forecast that a net 15 yr increase, 1965 to 1980, in air trip productions of 108% may be expected for West Virginia counties. It is anticipated that the 15 yr rate of increase in generations will be higher for airport counties.