Route-Level Aviation Data Analytics at Incheon Airport

A Data-Driven Study of Demand–Capacity Balance on International Routes

By |Published On: August 31, 2025|Categories: Case Studies|1 min read|
|August 31, 2025|Case Studies|1 min|

This case study is currently in development. Full results, maps, and dashboards will be published soon.

1. Introduction

In the aviation industry, the Load Factor is one of the most critical metrics, reflecting both route efficiency and the balance between demand and capacity. This project focuses on calculating monthly load factors for international routes at Incheon International Airport and identifying underlying patterns. Beyond the numbers, the goal is to uncover insights into route demand structures and airline competition dynamics, providing a foundation for discussions on airline strategy and network optimization.

2. Objective

  • Calculate monthly load factors for Incheon’s international routes
  • Identify time-series trends by airline and route
  • Analyze airline competition on the same route through time-of-day load factor differences

3. Data Sources

  1. Incheon Airport Scheduled Flight Data
    • Flight numbers, seasonality, operating days, departure/arrival times
    • Korean Government Public Data Portal (OpenAPI)
  2. Passenger Traffic Statistics
    • Monthly flight frequency and passenger counts (paying, non-paying, transit)
    • Korean Government Public Data Portal (File Data)
  3. Incheon Airport Flight Operation Status
    • Aircraft registrations, operational status (on-time, delayed, cancelled), with certain details referenced
    • Korean Government Public Data Portal (OpenAPI), Flightradar24*, UBIKAIS
  4. Fleet Configuration Data

4. Expected Outcomes

  • Time-series analysis of monthly load factors by route and airline
  • Regional comparisons of demand–capacity patterns (e.g., North America, Europe, SE Asia)
  • Airline competitive analysis:
    • Strategic insights from time-of-day differences in load factors on the same route

* Flightradar24: Referenced manually without scraping or automated downloads, in full compliance with the Terms of Service
** Planespotters.net: Manually referenced airline fleet pages; used without database redistribution, in compliance with the Terms of Use.