| Summary: | Rural airfields provide vital access to many remote regions of the world, thus
enabling their socioeconomic development. While these facilities are usually very
simple, their construction and maintenance can be very difficult. Thus, governments
must balance the need to provide access with the cost of providing access. In this
paper, we present a quantitative methodology for evaluating investment decisions in
rural air transportation networks. The intended purpose of the methodology is to
provide policymakers with enough understanding so that they can develop
strategies that meet the accessibility needs of remote locations while making the best
use of available resources. The first step in the methodology is to determine the
importance of air links to the different points in the network. Next, the existing and
desired infrastructure are evaluated in terms of their ability to support the expected
traffic. These evaluations are followed by a gap analysis to determine the
infrastructure deficit and provide the basis for the formulation of different
investment strategies. In this paper we consider the case of Costa Rica and provide
useful insights for policymakers interested in supporting rural air transportation
networks.
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