Minimum Travel Times between European Regions - An assessment of the ACARE 4h-Goal

Abstract

In March 2011 the Advisory Council for Aviation Research and Innovation in Europe (ACARE) formulated - among others - the goal that in 2050 “90% of travellers within Europe are able to complete their journey, door-to-door within 4 hours.” This political goal has been adopted although it is unknown how long travellers require today to reach their destinations throughout Europe. This paper provides an assessment of the ACARE 4h-goal based on travel times and demand volumes for trips between EU NUTS-2 regions. The analysis is based on European long-distance origin-destination passenger demand data provided by the EU research project ETISplus, travel time data for airport access provided by Google Maps and OAG flight schedules. In the paper, different scenarios on demand volumes (historical demand and potential demand according to population size), assumed transfer times between modes, the duration of airport processes and the use of air transport (online, interline and code-share itineraries with shortest-path algorithm applied for transfer connections) are evaluated. The results of the paper provide valuable information, which aspects (e.g. improved airport ground access, faster aircraft cruising speeds, quicker airport processes) contribute to the achievement of the ACARE 4h-goal.