Unraveling the travel patterns of Indonesian airplane passengers in choosing modal use and shifting

• Three passenger types: identified cost-sensitive leisure travelers, multimodal commuters, and affluent professionals with distinct transport preferences. • Most passengers favor simple, direct modes like private cars and ride-hailing over complex public transport combinations. • Employment and income levels strongly influence mode choice, more than age pr gender. • Younger urban passengers use public transport, but barriers like poor integration limit wider adoption. • Recommend better first-last mile links, fare integration, improved service quality, and partnerships with ride-hailing services. This study investigates the travel behavior and modal preferences of airplane passengers accessing and exiting Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) in Jakarta, Indonesia. Using Latent Class Cluster Analysis (LCCA) on survey data from 204 respondents, the research identifies distinct passenger segments based on socio-demographic, economic, and trip characteristics. Three main groups emerge for travel to and from the airport: (1) cost-sensitive leisure travelers favoring shuttle services, (2) multimodal urban commuters who combine airport trains with other public transport options, and (3) affluent professionals who prefer private vehicles or ride-hailing services for their convenience and efficiency. The results indicate that employment status, income, and travel purpose are more strongly associated with observed mode-use patterns than age and gender, and that direct, single-mode trips are preferred over transfer-based alternatives within the surveyed sample. The identified latent classes represent context-specific behavioral patterns observed among passengers surveyed at CGK during the study period. They should not be interpreted as statistically representative segments of the broader air passenger population. The findings provide indicative insights into how different types of airport users navigate availability access and egress options in a large metropolitan airport environment. They may support exploratory discussion of the design and evaluation of integrated, sustainable airport ground access strategies in similar contexts.