Robustness of airline route networks

Citation

Lordan, Oriol; Sallan, Jose M; Escorihuela, Nuria; Gonzalez-Prieto, David (2015). Robustness of airline route networks, Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 445:18-26.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2015.10.053

Abstract

Airlines shape their route network by defining their routes through supply and demand considerations, paying little attention to network performance indicators, such as network robustness. However, the collapse of an airline network can produce high financial costs for the airline and all its geographical area of influence. The aim of this study is to analyze the topology and robustness of the network route of airlines following Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) and Full Service Carriers (FSCs) business models. Results show that FSC hubs are more central than LCC bases in their route network. As a result, LCC route networks are more robust than FSC networks.

Effects of the variability in the distribution of passenger luggage on the boarding policy

Citation

Fernandez, V. Lordan, O., Sallan, J. M. (2015). Effects of the variability in the distribution of passenger luggage on the boarding policy. 2015 ATRS World Conference. National University of Singapore (Singapore).

Abstract

Boarding time is one major concern when planning turnaround times in airline planning schedule. Some researchers (e.g. Steffen, 2008; Milne and Keyy, 2014) present methods to assign seats and to board passengers on an airplane that minimizes the total time to board. Steffen (2008) presents an optimum boarding method that assigns passengers to a specific numerical position in line that depends upon their ticketed seat location. Milne and Keyy (2014) assign individual passengers to seats based on the amount of luggage they carry. Although these methods give some interesting results, there are some aspects related to the luggage that haven’t been studied. For example, Milne and Keyy (2014) consider that each bin has unlimited storage space. For this reason, we have designed and implemented a simulation engine in order to analyze how the variability in the distribution of passenger luggage affects the total time to board all passengers. Our simulation engine considers a limited storage space, and take the parameters and distributions of the row-to-row times (triangular distribution) from the study of Van Landeghem and Beuselinck (2002). Moreover, we have included in the simulations the effect of different boarding policies that we have identified in the literature with several  distributions of the passanger luggage.

Study of the robustness of the European air routes network

Citation

Lordan, O., Fernandez, V., Sallan, J.M. and Simo, P. (2014). Study of the robustness of the European air routes network. 4th International Conference on Logistics, Informatics and Service Science (LISS 2014). University of California – Berkeley (USA).

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the robustness of the European civil European air transportation network from the perspective of the theory of complex networks. This study is based on analyzing the behavior of the network when its nodes (airports) are removed either by random errors or by deliberate attacks. The calculation of network statistical indicators as degree and betweenness distribution reveals that the flight flow network has the small-world characteristics and scale-free property. The selection of nodes on deliberate attacks is based on four centrality criteria: degree, betweenness, pagerank and eigenvector. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the logistics network of European commercial flights, analyzing its strengths and weaknesses.

Conference presentation

This post of the Vicenc Fernandez website contains a video of the presentation at the LISS conference

Study of the topology and robustness of airline route networks from the complex network approach: a survey and research agenda

Citation

Lordan, O., Sallan, J. M., Simo, P. (2014). Study of the topology and robustness of airline route networks from the complex network approach: a survey and research agenda. Journal of Transport Geography, 37:112-120.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2014.04.015

Abstract

Communication via air routes is an important issue in a world organized around a web city network. In this context, the robustness of network infrastructures, e.g. air transport networks, are a central issue in transport geography. Disruption of communication links by intentional causes (e.g., terrorist attack on an airport) or unintentional (e.g., weather inclemency) could be crucial for countries, regions and even the airlines affected themselves. Policymakers and the management of airlines and alliances should be able to reduce the effects of such interruptions in order to ensure good communication through air transport (i.e., maximize the robustness of their network at a reasonable cost). The literature review of the study of air transport route networks through an analysis of complex networks has highlighted a lack of contributions to the study of the topology and the robustness of such networks which contrasts, with advances undertaken for other transport networks or communication systems. This survey suggests areas in which research should be undertaken, based on the existing literature in other areas and from three different perspectives: global route networks, airline alliances, airlines and airports so as to help towards a better understanding of air traffic and, therefore, to be able to assess the potential damage of any airport being inoperative for a continent, country or airline.