The Structure and Dynamics of the Multilayer Air Transport System

The field of air traffic management (ATM) has a strong interdisciplinary nature, combining of technological, management, economic and regulatory aspects. The fully understanding of the structure and dynamics underlying the system continues to be significant challenges in the field. Here we present a novel framework for the study of the structure and dynamics of the air transport system building upon recent advancement of network science and big data science, as well as taking into account of the unique operation practicals, thus bridging the gaps between academic field and operational world. We show that the structure of air transport system can be captured by four interdependent networks including airlines network, airport network, air route network, and ATM network. In particular, we present initial results on spatial-related dynamics of the system using one-year flight data records. We find by analyzing flight delay data that (i) airports with similar geographical locations exhibit similar dynamics; (ii) unlike other spatial-embedded complex systems, the propagation of flight delays or failure in the system decays slowly, and the correlations of the failure nodes reaching to 0 when the distance between them approaching to ∼ 1, 000km. Our findings may have the implications for the efficient management of air transport system.