Win or lose: The airport opportunity in the growing self-connecting passenger market

Today over 55 million passengers a year worldwide make self-connections, almost all of them including at least one flight on a low cost carrier (LCC).

ICF forecasts that with the next stage of facilitation by airlines, OTAs and airports, this number will double in the next five years.

ICF forecasts a wide range of possibilities for airports’ market share in the LCC connection segment via 'Airport Hosted Transfers'. If the airport industry as a whole takes a proactive approach and develops services and passenger awareness, airports’ share of this business could grow tenfold. On the other hand, if airports remain passive and simply process whoever turns up at their airport, other players such as airlines and OTAs are likely to ‘own’ the passenger relationship, reducing the contact, insight and incremental revenue available to airports. In any event, the total market size will grow and lead to more connecting passengers at airports generally.

In this white paper, ICF outlines some of the latest self-connecting market developments and explores the question of who will be the main beneficiaries of this trend in the next five years.