How transfer flights shape structure of the airline network

TL;DR

This paper improves the gravity model for airline networks by incorporating transfer flights, revealing hidden subflows and better understanding globalization effects through the distance coefficient.

Contribution

It introduces a transfer flight model that enhances the gravity model's accuracy in describing passenger flows and uncovers hidden network structures.

Findings

Transfer flights reveal hidden subflows in airline networks.

The model accurately retrieves the distance coefficient related to globalization.

Comparison with economic events validates the approach.

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the gravity model in the world passenger air-transport network. We show that in the standard form the model is inadequate to correctly describe the relationship between passenger flows and typical geo-economic variables that characterize connected countries. We propose a model of transfer flights which allows to exploit these discrepancies to discover hidden subflows in the network. We illustrate its usefulness by retrieving the distance coefficient in the gravity model which is one of the determinants of the globalization process. Finally, we discuss the correctness of the presented approach by comparing the distance coefficient to several well known economical events.