###The impact of fare and passenger heterogeneity on airline behaviour and aviation policy outcomes
Project ID: 2228bd1097 (You will need this ID for your application)
Research Theme: Energy and Decarbonisation
UCL Lead department: Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources
Lead Supervisor: Andreas Schafer
Project Summary:
Mitigating CO2 emissions from air transportation will lead to the largest transformation the aviation sector has experienced since the introduction of the jet engine 70 years ago. To absorb the costs of this transition, airfares will need to increase over current levels.
Passengers in different ticket classes and with different trip purposes respond differently to such increase in fare. In addition, because upper class passengers subsidise those travelling in economy class, a sensible decline in upper class passengers would lead to an even more drastic increase in the economy class fare, which, in turn, would depress air transportation demand more strongly and thus reduce the required amount of low-carbon fuels.
The UCL Air Transportation Systems Laboratory (ATSlab.org), a leading research unit in modelling the aviation ecosystem, has been developing a unique Airline Behaviour Model, that simulates how individual airlines maximize their profits within their network in a competitive environment. The objective of this PhD will be to develop models within the Airline Behaviour Model framework to distinguish between the behaviour of different types of passengers (business, leisure) and fare classes (economy and upper class), and to analyse how these distinctions affect aviation decarbonization policy outcomes.
Applicants must have a master’s degree in mathematics, natural sciences, engineering, economics, or a similar discipline. We are looking for a creative PhD student with strong quantitative skills, an interest in working on problems across disciplines, and proficiency in programming languages. The successful candidate will be embedded within a team of leading researchers and academics at UCL, working closely with key stakeholders from academia, government, and industry.