A multicriteria decision support methodology for evaluating airport expansion plans

Rational decision-making requires an assessment of advantages and disadvant ages of choice possibilities, including non-market effects (such as externa lities). This also applies to strategic decision-making in the transport se ctor (including aviation). In the past decades various decision support and evaluation methods have been developed in which a market evaluation played a prominent role. The intrinsic limitations of these approaches were also increasingly recognised. Gradually, a variety of adjusted multidimensional methods has been developed over the past years to complement conventional c ost-benefit analysis (CBA). These methods aim to investigate and evaluate a ll relevant impacts of a choice possibility (e.g., project, plan, or progra mme) on the basis of a multitude of important policy criteria (so-called mu lticriteria methods). They have a particular relevance in case of non-price d or qualitative effects. There is a clear need for a systematic and polyva lent multicriteria approach to many actual planning issues, such as land us e or transportation. This paper offers a new evaluation framework based on a blend of three types of approaches, viz. Regime Analysis, the Saaty metho d and the Flag Model. All these methods have been developed separately in t he past; the paper makes an effort to offer a cohesive framework, which can be used for the e valuation of spatial-economic and environmental-economic policy issues. This new tool is tested by means of a case study on conflic ting plans (and policy views) for airport expansion options in the Maastric ht area in the southern part of The Netherlands. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.