Lineaum Aviation Research: Sources, Methods & Planned Studies
Explore Lineaum’s planned private-aviation research programme, public data sources, methodology principles and safeguards. No customer enquiry data is used.
What this research programme is
This planned research programme is a source-led resource for explaining private-aviation activity and airport context. This page is an architecture and methods overview, not a published ranking or claim about the busiest routes, airports or aircraft. No customer enquiries, internal demand estimates or identifiable flight histories are used.
Potential research questions
Future studies may examine how publicly documented airport operations, aircraft activity datasets and published policy data can describe aviation patterns. Candidate topics include airport activity, route corridors, aircraft classes, seasonal travel context and aviation around major events. Each study must define its geography, time period, inclusion criteria, data gaps and limitations before publication.
Public data sources to evaluate
Potential sources include FAA Operations Network (OPSNET) and Traffic Flow Management System Counts (TFMSC), official airport and regulator publications, national transport statistics, Eurocontrol STATFOR publications and eligible OpenSky Network research data. These sources measure different things. Airport operations are not automatically private-jet movements; flight-plan and ADS-B coverage is incomplete; aircraft ownership or mission cannot safely be inferred from a registration alone.
- FAA Operations & Performance Data (ASPM) · operational datasets have specific definitions and coverage.
- FAA TFMSC data description · captures IFR traffic-flow records handled by enroute computers; it is not a complete count of all flights or private-jet movements.
- UK Department for Transport General Aviation Airfields Survey 2020 · historical and indicative, not a current or private-aviation-only census.
- EUROCONTROL STATFOR interactive dashboard · European traffic context; check definitions, access and coverage before using a measure.
- OpenSky Network data · community ADS-B observations with coverage and selection limits; observed aircraft do not by themselves establish ownership, operator or mission.
Method and publication standard
A published study should link to its source files, preserve retrieval dates and data licences, document cleaning and classification rules, explain missing coverage, and provide reproducible calculations. We will distinguish reported observations from estimates and avoid implying that a sample represents the entire private-aviation market. Where a source does not support a claim, the claim will not be published.
Privacy and independence
Research will use public or properly licensed aggregate data only. It will not use Lineaum enquiry history, customer itineraries, lead volumes, individual passenger information or confidential operator data. Any future data partnerships require an explicit privacy, rights and methodology review before use.
Planned research backlog
Candidate work, subject to data and methodology review: a transparent airport activity explainer; a business-aviation corridor methodology; an aircraft activity classification note; country-level aviation context; and a major-event airport planning study. These are proposals, not promised publication dates or findings.