
- Admin
- #1
In our forums we frequently discuss airport catchment area and what it means for individual airports to grow to their potential. We often see an overlap of catchment areas with most airports suffering to some extent depending on the routes served.
It is my belief price and availability overwhelmingly outweighs everything else but transport connections and location will play a part in every airports local and wider catchment area.

Map one example of the North of England is my interpretation of the Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle catchment area where each airport serves the same route with the same number of flights.

This example is where a route is served from three airports Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham. Perhaps an airline like Wizz for example.

This is an example of what the Newcastle and Manchester airport catchment area might look like for Emirates Dubai service. Not shown with this example but the Manchester catchment would also be overlapped by the Emirates service at Birmingham.

This example shows where there is a disparity between each airport with availability. Each airport will have it's own one to two hours travel time and more importantly the conurbations they serve but if availability is restricted by the number of flights serving an airport then a neighbouring airport will excess availability is able to capitalise on this.
This example shows the catchment areas for Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle for flights to Tenerife.
Drive times are often quoted as the main reason for an airports catchment area and it is often used as an example to back up claims about an airports catchment area.
Looking at the three neighbouring airports Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds the data suggests the airports enjoy a similar drive time with a similar number of people available in their wider catchment areas.



It could be argued Leeds Bradford Airport shares less of it's 2 hour drive time catchment with neighbouring airports.

Arguably, Birmingham for example has a larger catchment area within the 2 hour drive time than Manchester airport with multiple conurbations within the 2 hour drive time.


Also worth noting here is how small the Cardiff airport catchment is in comparison with Bristol airport within the 2 hour drivetime.
The myths surrounding drive times to airports served by A roads such as Leeds and Bristol are clearly unfounded as those airports appear to be unaffected by the lack of motorway access.
#AirportCatchments #AirportDriveTime
It is my belief price and availability overwhelmingly outweighs everything else but transport connections and location will play a part in every airports local and wider catchment area.

Map one example of the North of England is my interpretation of the Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle catchment area where each airport serves the same route with the same number of flights.

This example is where a route is served from three airports Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham. Perhaps an airline like Wizz for example.

This is an example of what the Newcastle and Manchester airport catchment area might look like for Emirates Dubai service. Not shown with this example but the Manchester catchment would also be overlapped by the Emirates service at Birmingham.

This example shows where there is a disparity between each airport with availability. Each airport will have it's own one to two hours travel time and more importantly the conurbations they serve but if availability is restricted by the number of flights serving an airport then a neighbouring airport will excess availability is able to capitalise on this.
This example shows the catchment areas for Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle for flights to Tenerife.
Drive times are often quoted as the main reason for an airports catchment area and it is often used as an example to back up claims about an airports catchment area.
Looking at the three neighbouring airports Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds the data suggests the airports enjoy a similar drive time with a similar number of people available in their wider catchment areas.



It could be argued Leeds Bradford Airport shares less of it's 2 hour drive time catchment with neighbouring airports.

Arguably, Birmingham for example has a larger catchment area within the 2 hour drive time than Manchester airport with multiple conurbations within the 2 hour drive time.


Also worth noting here is how small the Cardiff airport catchment is in comparison with Bristol airport within the 2 hour drivetime.
The myths surrounding drive times to airports served by A roads such as Leeds and Bristol are clearly unfounded as those airports appear to be unaffected by the lack of motorway access.
#AirportCatchments #AirportDriveTime
Last edited: