Analysis of flight conflicts in the Chinese air route network

Abstract

The increase in economic exchange, brought about by globalization and leaps of progress in science and engineering, has led to a sharp increase in air traffic density. As a consequence, airspace has become increasingly crowded, and limitations in airspace capacity have become a major concern for the future development of air travel and transportation. In this paper, we adopt methods of network science to analyze flight conflicts in the Chinese air route network. We show that air conflicts are distributed heterogeneously along the waypoints of the Chinese air route network. In particular, the frequency of flight conflicts follows an exponential distribution. The time-space investigation of flight conflicts shows that they are concentrated at specific regions of the Chinese air route network and at specific time periods of the day. Our work offers fascinating insights into one of the world's largest and most busiest air route networks, and it helps us mitigate flight conflicts and improve air traffic safety.