In order to improve the competitive power of air transportation, it is necessary to strengthen the
analysis of market demand, especially on the choice behavior of passengers between air transportation and
highway or railway transportation. In this paper, a mathematical model of travel cost is established to
quantitatively describe the choice behavior of passengers, in which the major factors considered by
passengers in their travel method choice, such as money, time, convenience and comfort, are expressed in
the formof cost. Generally speaking, the higher the travel cost of a travel method is, the less possible it is
to be chosen by passengers. A comparison between the costs by different travel methods is made on two
typical air routes,i. e., Beijing to Shanghai and Chengdu to Chongqing. Finally, the methods for
decreasing the travel cost of air transportation are briefly discussed.