The Air Connectivity Index : Measuring Integration in the Global Air Transport Network

Arvis, Jean-Franç ; ois ; Shepherd, Ben

关键词: ACCESSIBILITY;    ADJACENCY;    AGGREGATION;    AIR;    AIR CARGO;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5722
RP-ID  :  WPS5722

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The authors construct a new measure ofconnectivity in the global air transport network, covering211 countries and territories for the year 2007. It isgrounded in network analysis methods, and is based on agravity-like model that is familiar from the internationaltrade and regional science literatures. It is a globalmeasure of connectivity, in the sense that it captures thefull range of interactions among all network nodes, evenwhen there is no direct flight connection between them. Thebest connected countries are the United States, Canada, andGermany; the United States' score is more thantwo-thirds higher than the next placed country's, andconnectivity overall follows a power law distribution thatis fully consistent with the hub-and-spoke nature of theglobal air transport network. The measure of connectivity isclosely correlated with important economic variables, suchas the degree of liberalization of air transport markets,and the extent of participation in international productionnetworks. It provides a strong basis for future research inareas such as air and maritime transport, as well asinternational trade.