Measuring Connectivity in a Globally Networked Industry: The Case of Air Transport

We develop a new method for measuring air transport connectivity and apply it to data for 211 countries and territories for the year 2007. Our approach is grounded both in network analysis and in gravity modelling. It produces a global measure of connectivity, which captures the full range of interactions among all network nodes, even when there is no direct flight between them. Connectivity follows a power‐law distribution that is fully consistent with a hub‐and‐spoke network. Our approach provides a new basis for future research in related areas.