Featured Scholar:
Aaron Horowitz
2003 - 2004 University Scholar
Mentor: David Denslow
College of Business
Miami International Airport is one of the busiest airports
in the world, currently ranked 20th among Atlanta’s Hartsfield,
Chicago’s O’Hare and London’s Heathrow. But that could
all change soon, according to USP student Aaron Horowitz.
A senior majoring in decision and information sciences, Aaron is examining
the different factors affecting the airport and trying to predict whether
it will continue to prosper or if it will find itself in a predicament
in the coming years. “The airline industry as a whole fluctuates
a lot,” he says. “But in our changing society, Miami International
may experience an unusually high percentage of fiscal instability due
to its distinct circumstances.”
Situated on the southern tip of Florida, Miami is often the first stop
for passengers traveling into the United States from Latin America, accounting
for 70 percent of the airport’s traffic. However, neighboring Ft.
Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport, just 30 miles north, is slowly
eating away at Miami International’s business.
Aaron, who grew up in Hollywood, Florida using both airports, explains
that Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood as a smaller airport services many discount
airlines such as Frontier, JetBlue and AirTran. These airlines offer inexpensive
rates through their own corporate Web sites. He says travelers looking
for a bargain book with these discount airlines, which systematically
fly in and out of Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood, bypassing Miami entirely.
In 2002, Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood grew to the 30th busiest airport in
the US, according to the North American Traffic Report.
Another problem Aaron discusses is online reservation sites, such as expedia.com
and priceline.com, which were originally created to help the larger airline
corporations sell unused tickets. “Now,” Aaron says. “They
have become one of the main means for you and me to fly. This shift has
created a problem for the big airlines that usually use price discrimination
in charging passengers because they now have to sell the ticket for less
than they want to charge. This leads to undermining revenues, decreasing
profits and making it difficult to support their huge overhead. Miami
International, in turn, suffers as the airlines are slowly unable to share
usual profits with the hub.”
Aaron says in time, as more Latin Americans start purchasing their airfare
over the Internet through discount airlines and through online reservation
sites, Miami International Airport will lose a large portion of its business
to Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood. “Latin Americans first fly to Miami
and then the rest of the country,” he says. “The Latin American
countries haven’t adopted using the Internet as fast as we have.
As they start using the Internet and visiting these Web sites, they are
going to start flying with these small airlines and cut into Miami’s
traffic and start flying into Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood. Why? Because it’s
cheaper.”
To make matters worse, Miami International is in the middle of a multi-billion
dollar expansion project, a project it may not have the money to complete.
“I don’t know what is going to happen to Miami International
Airport,” Aaron says. “But I project that Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood
will continue to grow both physically and fiscally, leaving Miami International
in a precarious situation.”
Under the guidance of David Denslow, a well-known UF economist, Aaron
is expanding his USP paper in hopes of publishing it in a major business
journal. He is slated to graduate in spring 2004 with a current 4.0 GPA
and hopes to attend law school next fall. Eventually, Aaron would like
to join his sister Elana, who holds a BA in English and a JD from UF,
in a law practice specializing in intellectual property law in South Florida.
“I want to litigate and deal with copyrights, trademarks and anything
intangible,” Aaron says. He has been interested in intellectual
property rights since starting his own Web site design company, LogicLeap
Technologies, Inc., at age 12.
At UF, Aaron founded the Intellectual Property Law Association, an interest
group for undergraduates. He is also a member of the National Society
of Collegiate Scholars, Golden Key International Honor Society, Phi Kappa
Phi Honor Society and the business honorary Beta Gamma Sigma. In his spare
time, Aaron enjoys playing jazz on his trumpet and following his fascination
with astrophysics.
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