EZjET, a small regional airline, wishes to predict sales for its business travelers between two cities for 2017. It has recorded data for its past 14 years’ demand and has obtained information on the number of businesses within its market area. This information is listed in the table:

a. Plot the annual sales data against the number of businesses in the market area and draw in the “line of best fit” that seems to be visually appropriate.

b. Measure the intercept and slope of the above line of best fit, and state the approximate function relationship between the two variables.

c. Suppose the number of businesses is projected to increase to 14,500 in 2017. Use the above functional relationship to forecast the demand for the number of seats sold in business class in 2017.

d. Comment on the probable accuracy of your forecast.

Transcribed Image Text:

Number of Seats Sold Year 2003 74,970 2004 76,500 2005 78,795 2006 83,000 2007 80,000 2008 92,000 2009 94,760 2010 101,000 2011 103,000 2012 106,000 2013 104,880 2014 115,256 2015 118,713 2016 122,274 Number of Businesses 4,664 4,759 5,480 6,100 6,940 8,300 9,850 10,800 12,100 13,300 13,034 13,890 14,307 14,736