Analysis of the air cargo transport network using a complex network theory perspective
Analysis of the air cargo transport network using a complex network theory perspective
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DOI：
10.1016/j.tre.2020.101959
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发表时间：
2020-06-01
影响因子：
10.6
通讯作者：
Tavasszy, Lorant
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bombelli, Alessandro;Santos, Bruno F.;Tavasszy, Lorant
在本文中，我们提出了一个复杂的网络分析的航空运输网络使用航空货物，而不是旅客，的角度，。据我们所知，这是第一次对包括客运航空公司、全货运航空公司和集成商能力在内的全球货运网络进行研究。我们使用机场对之间估计的年货运能力作为模型的输入。在评估了代表不同载波类型的子网络的网络特性后，得到了作为单个子网络叠加的完整网络。得到的网络同时具有小世界和无标度特征。其拓扑特性导致其相对于乘客的流量不平衡和浓度更高，特征路径长度和直径较小。这一结果与货运机场更大的集水区是一致的，货运机场的地面航线严重依赖公路支线服务。最后，我们展示了不同的攻击策略如何导致轮辐系统的枢纽或机场成为首先受到攻击的社区之间的桥梁。我们相信，在这个电子商贸和次日达服务蓬勃发展的时代，新的参与者不断进入航空货运行业，竞争不断加剧，这项研究对学术界和实践者都具有重要意义。
In this paper, we present a complex network analysis of the air transport network using the air cargo, instead of the passenger, perspective. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work where a global cargo network comprising passenger airlines, full-cargo airlines, and integrators' capacity was studied. We used estimated yearly cargo capacity between airport pairs as input to the model. After assessing network characteristics of the sub-networks representing different carrier types, the full network was obtained as a super-imposition of the individual sub-networks. The resulting network has both small-world and scale-free characteristics. Its topological properties resulted in a higher flow imbalance and concentration with respect to its passenger counterpart, with a smaller characteristic path length and diameter. This result is consistent with the larger catchment area of cargo airports, which heavily rely on road feeder services for the ground leg. Finally, we showed how different attack strategies result in hubs of hub-and-spoke systems or airports behaving as bridges between communities being attacked first. We believe this work to be of relevance both for academics and for practitioners in an era where, due to the soaring of e-commerce and next day delivery, new players are entering the air cargo business and competition is constantly increasing.