No abstract

Government agencies classify airports for different purposes, including the allocation of public funding for capacity developments. In a context of hub classification, determining the contribution of each airport to the national network in terms of the two dimensions of "hubbing", i.e. traffic generation and connectivity, is a key aspect. However, the choice of an appropriate indicator of airport connectivity is still an unresolved issue. This paper contributes to the existing literature by adapting the well-known flow centrality indicator to an air transport context and thus developing a novel measure of airport connectivity. An application to the US airport network is provided, using quarterly data on passenger demand to perform a detailed time-series analysis of airport connectivity patterns between 1993 and 2012. The suitability of our flow-based indicator, against other commonly used centrality measures, is assessed by testing their sensibility to the major cases of airline de-hubbing in the US. The flow-based indicator is then used to define an alternative airport classification method within the context of the Federal Aviation Administration´s National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS). Results show that there is potential for improving the existing regulatory airport classification by taking connectivity into consideration.

This paper analyzes the vulnerability of the European air transport network to major airport closures from the perspective of the delays imposed to disrupted airline passengers. Using an MIDT dataset on passenger itineraries flown during February 2013, full-day individual closures of the 25 busiest European airports are simulated and disrupted passengers then relocated to minimum-delay itineraries. Aggregate delays are used to rank the criticality of each airport to the network, with the possibility of disaggregating the impact across geographical markets. The results provide useful reference values for the development of policies aimed at improving the resilience of air transport networks.

One of the strategies that air travellers employ to save money is self-connectivity, i.e. travelling with a combination of tickets where the airline/s involved do not handle the transfer themselves. Both airports and airlines, particularly low-cost carriers, have recently started catering to the needs of this type of passengers with the introduction of transfer fees or the development of self-connection platforms. The evidence provided by the existing literature, however, suggests that the degree of implementation of these strategies falls short of its true potential. In order to investigate how much self-connectivity could be observed in global air transport markets, this paper develops a forecasting model based on a zero-inflated Poisson regression on MIDT data. We identify the airports that have the highest potential to facilitate self-connections, as well as the factors that hinder or facilitate the necessary airline agreements at major locations. The results from this paper have many implications in regards to the widespread implementation of self-connection services and the future of the air travel industry.

a b s t r a c tIn a context of ongoing debate about the future UK aviation policy and its implications for regional economic development, this paper discusses the role of London Heathrow and the South East airports in providing connectivity for the UK, with particular focus on the international markets that originate from regional UK airports. Using an MIDT dataset of worldwide passenger itineraries served by the European airport network during May 2013, we first establish whether London Heathrow can currently be considered the most important hub for the UK, in terms of traffic generation, connectivity, and centrality, while also measuring the dependence of UK regions on foreign airports and airlines to remain connected with the rest of the world. Results show that, despite the competition, London Heathrow benefits from its massive traffic generation to remain the most central gateway for overall UK air transport markets. However, when only regional markets are considered, significant dependence on foreign hubs appears in many destinations, particularly to Asia-Pacific or the BRIC countries where above 80% of passengers use transfer flights. These results fit nicely with the observed trends of seat de-concentration and hub-bypassing in the airline industry. While dependence on foreign hubs can be interpreted as a sign of vulnerability, there is also the argument that bypassing Heathrow allows regional airports to develop new markets and reduce the level of congestion in the London airport system.