RE-TE REGIONAL ECONOMY / TRAVEL EXPECTATIONS

The assessment of the economic health of economies around the world has historically been based on reports prepared by multiple public and private institutions – from banks to governments. These describe how an economy has evolved in the past, but are lagging and low-resolution pictures of fast evolving systems, and are therefore hill-suited for guiding real decision-making processes under uncertainty. The solution could come from air transport and its demand, as these can provide real-time indicators of the intentions of citizens and companies to travel several months in the future; but are also linked to, and therefore describe, the evolution of the economy in general. By relying on large-scale data sets covering several aspects of air transport, from operational plans to price evolution, this project proposes exploring the societal and commercial value of macro-economic indicators extracted from air transport. From a technical perspective, this will be achieved by deploying an IT infrastructure to support the creation and distribution of reports based on such indicators and their respective evolution. Most importantly, the value of these reports will be tested in three use cases targeting the general public, a large regional government, and a SME. We will thus explore the commercial value of such reports and their suitability for supporting a future business, while also providing a freely given added value for society at large.