This study aims to analyze the structural changes of the international air network in 1992 and 2004, and to examine the functional characteristics of the upper cities in the global network. For this purpose, a modified social network analysis model wa...
This study aims to analyze the structural changes of the international air network in 1992 and 2004, and to examine the functional characteristics of the upper cities in the global network. For this purpose, a modified social network analysis model was devised in this study for use in the examination of the international air network. By using this model in analyzing the global network structure, the international networkability of each city and the connectivity of the air routes in the international air passenger network were estimated. Based on the results of structure analyses of the international air network, the global networkability and regional networkability of each city will be measured by classifying the international air routes of each city into those connected to the other cities in the same region and those connected to the cities in other regions. Lastly, the correlation between the results of networkability analyses and the socioeconomic attributes of each city is also analyzed. In the process of these analyses, the functions and roles carried out by network cities with a high degree of international networkability in the global network are also examined. This international networkability is the quantitative measurement of the spatial interaction relationships in the international air network, without considering the characteristics of each city's flow pattern. As a result, it was observed that London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and New York were the network cities that were at the top in both years. Tokyo was included in class 1 in 1992, but not in 2004. Rome, Zurich, Singapore, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and other cities were identified as the 2nd-class network cities in 1992, while Singapore, Tokyo, Madrid, Hong Kong, Bangkok, etc. were identified as the 2nd-class network cities in 2004. The network cities occupy the center of the global network, and the 1st-class network cities are connected to the 2nd-class network cities, which perform the function of hubs in each continent, thus uniting the whole world as one network. It was clarified that subnetworks form a network by using each continent as its local base. Each city's flow pattern by continent was also analyzed in this study, based on the connection structures of subnetworks, which shows that cities with a high networkability turn out to be different in each continent, and that certain cities have a high networkability only in certain continents. On the contrary, London, Paris, New York, Frankfurt,and Tokyo have a high networkability in every continent, and their global networkability is also high. The correlation analysis of the networkabilities and socioeconomic attributes of these cities confirmed that cities with a high networkability serve as centers on the regional or global level. It was also shown that Amsterdam, Madrid, Singapore, Seoul, Chicago, and Toronto function more strongly as centers on the continental or local level than on the global level.