Air Transportation Network Robustness under Random and Hub-Based Disruptions

Abstract

Air transportation facilitates important connectivity to drive economic growth and development. Airports and airline companies are considered as two important components in flight activities. Those components construct an interconnected air transportation network. The highly connected network is susceptible against some disruptions. We simulate disruptions in two percolation scenarios, specifically random failures and hub-based attacks. The disruption consequences are examined through network robustness approach. The size of survived connected component and survived link is used as the network robustness measurement. Understanding air transportation network robustness is necessary since the air transportation inefficiency generates a huge level of economic and social costs. Air transportation is a notable and efficient transportation mode in Indonesia since having a wide-spread maritime territory. This research presents an insight of air transportation network robustness under disruptions with domestic flights in Indonesia as a case study and experiment. We discover that flight activities form a scale-free network with heavy-tailed distribution. Air transportation network is robust under random failures but extremely fragile under hub-based attacks. Percolation scenarios facilitate better understanding of disruption consequences on complex air transportation network and support the integrated national air transportation system planning.