Examining Differences in Short-Haul and Long-Haul Markets in US Commercial Airline Passenger Demand

This article examines the demand for US domestic airline passenger transportation as it pertains to short-haul markets of 500 miles or less, and compares it to the demand in long-haul markets of longer than 500 miles. We investigate how a variety of factors impact passenger volumes, depending on route distance, using a panel set of quarterly data from 1995 to 2010. We find that changes in security screening times, price differences between air travel and automobile travel, and market concentration levels affect short-haul and long-haul markets in statistically different ways, while the impact of low-cost carriers on passenger volumes affects both markets identically.