Determination of Location Selection Criteria and Their Importance Levels for Air Cargo Companies: A Case from Turkiye

Abstract

Air cargo transportation attracts increasing attention among other alternative transportation models in developing countries due to its ability to provide the fastest transportation service to distant locations. A cargo hub, where air cargo companies perform their cargo operations, plays a critical role, especially in service time and cost. In choosing a site for their operations, understanding the importance of many seemingly independent factors/criteria such as airport system and infrastructure, proximity to production and consumption sources, and transportation connections play a critical role in balancing time and cost. Hence, the study aims to determine the location selection criteria of the cargo hub as the operation site of air cargo companies and to rank their importance. For this purpose, the opinions of experts in university and managers of big air cargo companies in Turkiye were collected. In the first stage of the study, the criteria were determined and categorized into four categories by using the Delphi method. In the second stage, the importance levels of the criteria were determined using the G-AHP method. The research findings highlighted “transportation diversity of the region”, “proximity to important production resources”, and “the structure of existing warehouses” as the most important criteria among others. The importance levels of location selection criteria categories ranked as “Supply, Equipment and Costs”, “Transportation Connections”, “Consumer” and “External Factors”. In summary, findings show that the most important factor affecting the location selection decision is related to the suitability of the airport's infrastructure for cargo operations.