Airport congestion management under uncertainty

This paper is about single airports and airport networks. Linear and non-linear model specifications are applied to analyze the relative welfare effects of slots and congestion pricing under uncertainty. Uncertainty refers to passenger benefits and congestion costs. I show that, from a welfare perspective, congestion pricing is the right choice for single airports in a linear context, but that slots might be preferred, if non-linearities (quadratic marginal external congestion costs) exist. I also show that uncertainty about congestion costs increases the relative welfare benefits of congestion pricing while airport networks increase the relative welfare benefits of slots.