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par O'Connor, Kevin;Dobruszkes, Frédéric 
Référence Transportation planning and technology, page (1-19), (in press)
Publication Publié, 2026-05
Référence Transportation planning and technology, page (1-19), (in press)
Publication Publié, 2026-05
Article révisé par les pairs
| Résumé : | Aircraft technology evolved steadily in the last half century and increased the route length between origin and destination, as well as the number of passengers carried. The early technical focus on large aircraft, especially the Boeing 747, had a geographic impact, as hub-hub services grew and smaller markets were by-passed. Concern with fuel costs, along with an acknowledgment of the demand for direct services to smaller cities, led aircraft design to favour twin-engine wide-body aircraft. This began with the Airbus 300 and Boeing 767, was refined in the Boeing 777 and Airbus 330 and developed further in the Boeing 787 and Airbus 350. Global-scale analysis suggested these mid-sized aircraft would shift the geography of air services away from hubs to point-to-point services between a wider range of cities. This paper sharpens the focus on this observation by exploring the services available at a case study city over the period 2000–2024. Results show that a simple pattern of connections to a few hubs in 2000 expanded to a large number of destinations, many at very long distances. Over the same period, the initial hubs cities still stand out with large seat availability and the highest frequencies. These results show that hub services and direct inter-city connections coexist as the demand for air connections is spread across a wide array of destinations. This study acknowledges some unique circumstances surrounding the case study city and suggests a global-scale analysis of the impact of twin-engine wide-body aircraft is needed. |
