Efficiency and robustness of weighted air transport networks

This paper proposes a novel efficiency metric for weighted air transport networks (ATNs), where the weight represents the connection strength between two airports concerning the number of routes, the frequency of flights, or the number of passenger seats. This metric is further used to assess and compare the weighted efficiency and robustness of eight domestic ATNs, with the data of routes being operated by all the airlines. Furthermore, the critical airports in these ATNs are identified. It is found that the link weight has a significant impact on the assessment of efficiency and robustness and ranking of critical airports.