atrs

What atrs does

ATRS (Air Transport Research Society) is a non-profit global research society founded in 1995 and headquartered at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. It serves air transport researchers, policy makers, and aviation industry professionals through three core product lines: (1) the annual ATRS World Conference and regional chapter conferences (now expanding through the China Chapter), (2) the peer-reviewed Journal of the Air Transport Research Society (JATRS) published with Elsevier, and (3) the Global Airport Benchmarking Report and Database covering financial, traffic, and capacity data for 205 airports and 24 airport groups across Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America since 2002. The benchmarking database is currently maintained at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The organization's technology base centers on a longitudinal airport performance dataset that has accumulated two decades of financial, traffic, and capacity data across three regions, combined with a peer-reviewed open-access journal on Elsevier's ScienceDirect platform. ATRS monetizes this through a tiered membership program (Individual $75/year, Student $25/year, Corporate $1,000/year, Gold Corporate $5,000/year), pay-as-you-go conference registration (e.g., individual in-person $450–$510, student $220–$250), one-time license sales of benchmarking reports and the historical database, and corporate sponsorships from entities such as Airbus, Boeing, Copenhagen Airport, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) at the Permanent Member level, with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at Gold Corporate. Distribution occurs primarily through the atrsworld.org website portal, the formsite.com conference registration platform, and the Touchnet payment portal for benchmarking report and database orders.

The society operates on a classic non-profit subscription-plus-event revenue model with a long-tail membership base of approximately 500 research members worldwide. Its go-to-market is event-driven: the annual World Conference rotates globally and serves as the primary demand-generation and community-recruitment channel, supplemented by LinkedIn, university partnerships, email communications, and corporate sponsor networks. Customer segments are horizontally diversified across academia, government/policy, and industry (airports, airlines, aerospace manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing, and consultancies), with the value proposition anchored in conference participation, voting rights at the General Assembly, and access to benchmarking data.

Name

atrs

Legal name

Air Transport Research Society

Website

https://atrsworld.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Short description

ATRS is a non-profit global research society that advances air transport research through annual World Conferences, the Elsevier-published JATRS journal, and a Global Airport Benchmarking Report/Database covering 205 airports since 2002, serving academics, policy makers, and aviation industry professionals worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Vancouver

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Membership Fees: Annual individual membership with networking opportunities, voting rights at General Assembly, and right to submit papers to ATRS special issue journals. Student membership available at reduced rate.
2. Corporate Membership Fees: Corporate membership at $1,000/year providing 4 annual memberships, 2 conference admissions, 50% discount on benchmarking report. Gold Corporate Membership at $5,000/year with 10 memberships, 5 conference admissions, and electronic/hard copies of benchmarking report.
3. Airport Benchmarking Reports: The ATRS Global Airport Benchmarking Report sold as a three-volume set (Volume I Summary, Volume II Full Results, Volume III Airport Profiles) measuring productivity, efficiency, unit costs, and financial results. 2022 report covers 205 airports.
4. Airport Database Sales: ATRS Global Airport Performance Benchmarking Database available for purchase, containing historical data from 2003-2018 and ongoing updates.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

ATRS is a non-profit international research society that brings together air transport researchers, policymakers, and industry professionals around three core deliverables: an annual World Conference held in a different global city each year, the peer-reviewed Journal of the Air Transport Research Society (JATRS) co-published with Elsevier, and the Global Airport Performance Benchmarking Report and Database covering 205 airports worldwide since 2002. The society serves individual researchers, students, and corporate sponsors with tiered membership programs and runs workshops such as the PhD/Junior Faculty Seminar alongside its conferences.

Product overview

ATRS (Air Transport Research Society) is a non-profit global research organization headquartered at the University of British Columbia that offers a portfolio of academic and industry-facing services including the annual World Conference, the Journal of the Air Transport Research Society (JATRS) published through Elsevier, the Global Airport Benchmarking Report and Database for performance analysis, Airport Efficiency Awards, regional chapters like the China Chapter, membership programs at individual and corporate levels, and professional development workshops. These offerings work together to advance air transport research through international collaboration among academia, industry, and policy makers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ATRS World Conference An annual international conference held in a different global city each year, providing a dedicated forum for air transport researchers, policymakers, and industry professionals to present and discuss research findings. Conference registration is sold in multiple tiers including Main Conference, Pre-Conference Workshop, Group, Individual, Student, Fellow, and Companion passes.
• Journal of the Air Transport Research Society (JATRS) Peer-reviewed academic journal co-published with Elsevier, providing a Scopus-indexed publication venue for multidisciplinary air transport research targeted at academics, graduate students, and industry researchers.
• Global Airport Performance Benchmarking Report Annual benchmarking report covering 205 airports worldwide, providing comparative performance analysis for airports, airlines, regulators, and researchers, sold via the Touchnet payment portal.
• Global Airport Performance Benchmarking Database Longitudinal performance database tracking 205 airports worldwide since 2002, licensed to corporate sponsors and researchers for independent, comparable, multi-year airport benchmarking analysis.
• ATRS Membership Program Tiered membership program with Individual, Student, Corporate, and Gold Corporate levels, providing members with conference registration benefits, journal access, and benchmarking report entitlements.
• ATRS Airport Efficiency Awards Awards recognizing top-performing airports based on the ATRS benchmarking methodology, used to celebrate and publicize best-practice airport performance among industry stakeholders.
• PhD Student and Junior Faculty Workshop Pre-conference workshop supporting PhD students and junior faculty in air transport research, typically held alongside the annual ATRS World Conference.
• ATRS China Chapter Regional chapter of ATRS focused on serving air transport researchers and industry stakeholders in China, extending the society's reach into the Chinese aviation research community.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and flagship.

• World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTR)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1995ATRS was launched as a special interest group of the WCTR during the 7th Triennial WCTR Conference at Sydney in 1995. The society helps organize and expand air transport related sessions at WCTR Conferences and attracts more people from airlines, airports, governments, research institutes and academia to the WCTR Society.
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International AirportmajorOthersGold Corporate Member of ATRS providing financial support and industry participation in the research society's activities and conferences.
• Korea Airports Corporation (KAC)majorOthersCorporate Member of ATRS providing industry perspective and financial support for the research society's initiatives.
• AirbusflagshipOthersCorporate Permanent Member providing sustained financial and strategic support to ATRS as a major aerospace manufacturer stakeholder.
• BoeingflagshipOthersCorporate Permanent Member providing sustained financial and strategic support to ATRS as a major aerospace manufacturer stakeholder.
• Copenhagen AirportflagshipOthersCorporate Permanent Member providing sustained financial and strategic support to ATRS as a major airport operator stakeholder.
• German Aerospace Center (DLR)flagshipOthersCorporate Permanent Member providing sustained financial and strategic support to ATRS as a major research institution stakeholder.
• ElseviercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPublisher of the Journal of the Air Transport Research Society (JATRS). Elsevier has provided open access submission fee waiver for the first two years and supports the streamlined editorial flow with a constructive, efficient peer review system.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTR): WCTR is the parent organization from which ATRS was spun out as an air transport special interest group in 1995. Both are nonprofit academic societies running triennial/annual transport research conferences with peer-reviewed proceedings, directly comparable in mission, structure, and audience.
• Transportation Research Board (TRB): TRB is a major US-based division of the National Academies that organizes the largest transportation research conference (annual meeting) and publishes peer-reviewed journals covering all transport modes. Directly comparable in function (research conferences, journals, committee structure, benchmarking-style reports) and broader in modal scope.
• Airports Council International (ACI World): ACI World is the global trade association of airport operators that publishes its own airport benchmarking and economic reports. Directly comparable because it produces competing airport performance data products targeting the same aviation industry and policymaker customer segments as ATRS.
• Hong Kong Society for Transportation Studies (HKSTS): HKSTS is a regional transportation research society that co-sponsors the HKSTS-ATRS Best Paper Award and overlaps in academic audience. Directly comparable as a nonprofit transportation research society running conferences and publishing peer-reviewed work, with strong regional academic presence in Greater China.
• Royal Aeronautical Society: The Royal Aeronautical Society is the world's oldest professional society for aeronautics, offering individual/corporate memberships, conferences, awards, and a peer-reviewed journal. Directly comparable as a long-standing aviation-focused professional membership society with similar governance, awards programs, and event-driven engagement.
• American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE): AAAE is a US professional association for airport executives offering memberships, annual conferences, training, and benchmarking programs. Directly comparable in serving the airport professional community through memberships, conferences, and performance benchmarking — the core commercial activities ATRS also pursues.

Broad incumbents

• International Air Transport Association (IATA): IATA is the global trade association representing airlines, offering memberships, conferences, training, and industry standards. Overlapping because it serves the same aviation industry stakeholder base as ATRS, but it is much larger, focused on airline (not airport) operations, and does not specialize in academic research.
• International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO): ICAO is a UN specialized agency that sets international aviation standards and produces global aviation statistics. Overlapping with ATRS in the policy/research audience and the global aviation data ecosystem, but much larger in scope and government-backed rather than an academic society.
• Flight Safety Foundation: Flight Safety Foundation is an independent nonprofit that produces aviation safety research, publications, and conferences. Overlapping in operating as a nonprofit aviation research organization with industry sponsorships and technical conferences, though narrower in focus on safety rather than full air transport economics.

Others

• Elsevier (Air Transport journals portfolio): Elsevier is ATRS's strategic publishing partner for JATRS on ScienceDirect and also publishes other peer-reviewed transportation journals (e.g., Journal of Air Transport Management). Indirectly comparable as the enabling publisher/distribution platform whose reach amplifies ATRS's journal visibility globally.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/air-transport-research-society

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about atrs