“Mechanisms supporting hub functions in airport charges systems of European airports”

🔍 What’s it about?

We looked at how European hub airports use their airport charges systems to support hub functions – in other words, how pricing and incentive mechanisms shape transfer traffic, long-haul connectivity, and the balance between different aircraft types.

📊 Our key findings:

- Transfers matter – all examined airports apply lower charges for transfer passengers.
- Wide-bodies welcome – most hubs incentivize long-haul traffic by lowering per-ton MTOW costs for wide-body aircraft.
- No “one-size-fits-all” – discounts for distance, frequency or based aircraft vary widely across airports.
- Popular incentives – discounts for new routes, strategic connections, higher volumes and base operations.

💡 Why it matters:
Airport charges are not just numbers on a tariff sheet – they are strategic tools. Properly designed, they can strengthen hub functions, attract transfer flows, and improve competitiveness. But our study shows that the approach is far from uniform across Europe.

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