Eric Pels

Eric Pels is an Associate Professor in the Department of Spatial Economics at the School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and a Spatial Economics Research Fellow at the Tinbergen Institute. His expertise spans aviation economics, transport policy, and sustainable mobility solutions with over 113 research outputs.

Dr. Pels earned his economics degree from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 1994. His doctoral dissertation "Airport economics and policy: efficiency, competition, and interaction with airlines" (completed circa 2000) won the Regional Science Association International Dissertation Competition.

His research focuses on airport congestion pricing, air-rail competition, and transport-environment interactions. Recent work analyzes deregulation impacts on railway-air transport dynamics and policy effects on high-speed rail adoption, employing advanced econometric modeling to assess market structures and consumer behavior under evolving regulatory frameworks.

Dr. Pels' publications reveal consistent emphasis on economic efficiency in multimodal transport systems, with growing attention to sustainability metrics and policy instruments for reducing aviation's environmental footprint through pricing mechanisms and infrastructure planning.

His scientific recognition includes:

• Highly cited author award for "The economics of airport congestion pricing" (2009)
• Regional Science Association Dissertation Competition winner (2000)
• Canadian Transportation Research Forum best paper runner-up (2005)

Dr. Pels supervises PhD candidates and teaches transport economics courses for STREEM and TSCM master's programs. His research is funded by the Civil Aviation Authority, Airport Benchmarking Project, and projects on U.S. aviation institutions (TIPP) and congestion pricing (MC-ICAM).

As a Tinbergen Institute fellow and Schiphol Society Council advisor (2024-2027), he contributes to transport policy debates through academic collaborations and frequent media commentary on airport sustainability and aviation economics.