Project information
Border effects in European passenger transport II

The world, and Europe in particular, is becoming increasingly interconnected. There are even those who claim that we live in a borderless world. Nevertheless, the available evidence suggests that national borders still have a significant impact. In the context of passenger transport, national borders continue to act as a barrier, reducing the flow of people. A review of the available literature indicates that the reduction in passenger transportation flows due to borders ranges from 35% to almost 100%, with a downward trend over time. However, the conclusions are limited by a number of methodological flaws. The aim of this project is to provide more reliable estimates of the border effect on air passenger transport in Europe. The method will be a contemporary version of the gravity model, which is a typical model employed in border effect literature. This research will contribute to the field in several ways. For instance, it will consider actual travel times rather than geographic distances, utilise a unique data from Eurostat and OAG, and compare results from supply- and demand-oriented gravity models. The findings of this research will provide evidence on the current state of the integration process in Europe, which can be a basis for discussion not only on EU transport policy.