FLYING WHERE YOU DON'T WANT TO GO: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF HUBS IN THE GLOBAL AIRLINE NETWORK

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to contribute to the literature on the rise of so-called 'network cities' through an empirical analysis of hubs in the global airline network. Standard airline databases do not feature the actual routes flown by passengers, and therefore, a new and previously untapped database is introduced. The employed data are transnational and feature origin/destination statistics with additional information on intermediate stops (if any), which allows a thorough assessment of hub structures in the global airline network. The first part of the empirical analysis presents a threefold hub assessment, i.e. (i) an overview of the major hubs in absolute terms, (ii) a similar overview of hubs in relative terms, and (iii) a measure that focuses on the number of cities that make intense use of a hub. The second part of the empirical analysis focuses on some aspects of the spatiality of hub-and-spoke organisation. This is achieved through an examination of the proportion of 'regional' hub passengers and some notable case studies.