Analysis and Resilience of the U.S. Flight Network

TL;DR

This paper examines the structure and vulnerability of the U.S. Flight Network using complex network theory, revealing its hub dominance, susceptibility to attacks, and the importance of protecting key airports for robustness.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of USFN's topology, highlighting its hub dominance and vulnerability, and suggests strategies for improving network resilience.

Findings

USFN follows a power-law degree distribution.

The network is highly vulnerable to targeted attacks on hubs.

Protecting key hubs can prevent cascading failures.

Abstract

Air travel is one of the most widely used transportation services in the United States. This paper analyzes the U.S. Flight Network (USFN) using complex network theory by exploring how the network's topology contributes to its efficiency and vulnerability. This is done by examining the structural properties, degree distributions, and community structures in the network. USFN was observed to follow power-law distribution and falls under the anomalous regime, suggesting that the network is hub dominant. Compared to null networks, USFN has a higher clustering coefficient and modularity. Various percolation test revealed that USFN is vulnerable to targeted attacks and is susceptible to complete cascading failure if one of the major hubs fails. The overall results suggest that while the USFN is designed for efficiency, it is highly vulnerable to disruptions. Protecting key hub airports is important to make the network more robust and prevent large-scale failures.