I started with US air travel volume and tried to work down to SFO's share based on it being a major west coast hub.
Break the problem into supply (runway capacity) and demand (passenger demand) sides, then estimate using a top-down approach. Start with the number of runways and typical aircraft movements per hour, then multiply by average passengers per flight and adjust for peak/off-peak hours. Alternatively, estimate based on population and travel frequency, but the supply-side is often more straightforward for airports.
Pro tip: State your assumptions clearly and round numbers to make calculations easy. Mention that you'd sanity-check with known data (e.g., SFO's annual passenger count is ~50-60 million) to validate your estimate.
Confirm what 'typical day' means (e.g., average over a year, excluding COVID anomalies) and whether it includes both arriving and departing passengers, and possibly connecting passengers.
Decide between supply-side (airport capacity) or demand-side (population and travel behavior). Supply-side is often easier for airports: estimate runway capacity and flight frequency.
SFO has 4 runways, but typically 2 used for arrivals and 2 for departures simultaneously. Assume each runway can handle about 30-40 aircraft per hour. So total aircraft movements per hour ~ 60-80. Multiply by operating hours (e.g., 17 hours) to get daily flights.
Average aircraft size: mix of narrow-body (150 seats) and wide-body (300 seats). Assume average load factor ~80%. So average passengers per flight ~ 150-200. Multiply by total flights (arrivals + departures) to get total passengers.
Compute the final number and compare with known data (e.g., SFO handles ~55 million passengers annually, so daily ~150,000). If your estimate is off, adjust assumptions.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.