FAQ - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
AIRPORT METADATA FAQ
WHAT IS DOT/FAA AIRPORT CLASS?
The FAA/DOT breaks airports into categories that affect grants, funding, etc. The largest size is LARGE HUB, then MEDIUM HUB, SMALL HUB, and the smallest category is NON HUB. The Small Community Air Service Development grant program (SCASD) is only open to SMALL and NON HUB categories.
WHAT ARE ENPLANEMENTS?
An enplanement is an airport term for passengers boarded at the airport. If a passenger originates their trip at the airport or changes planes at the airport, they are counted as an enplanement. If a passenger is on a multi-stop flight on the same flight number, they are not counted as enplanements at the intermediate stops. Passenger Facility Charges are levied based on enplanements.
WHAT IS CPE?
CPE is Cost Per Enplanement which is a measure of airport cost. International passengers are included in the calculation. Airline levied charges divided by enplanements create CPE. There are a number of items which can distort CPE. For example, airline clubs behave like a concession in that they take space from an airport's concession real estate, but count as airline levied charges. Thus, airports with a large number of airline clubs see high CPE when it is not indicative of the average cost for an airline without a club of its own. There are also other items that can cause distortions of CPE like airline financed terminals.
WHAT IS MARKETING$/PAX?
Airports spend money on marketing to lure more air service, among other things. This money may go to airlines in the form of incentives for new flights or it may go to advertising of new flights, or even airport parking. In general, it is an indication of how aggressive an airport is at trying to lure new service. In general airport incentives to airlines such as fee waivers do not appear in this category.
WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THIS DATA?
The DOT/FAA collect this data from airports and it is publicly available.