ANGEL: A Synthetic Model for Airline Network Generation Emphasizing Layers

Air transportation networks develop independently based on the needs of carriers, economic and political factors, as well as their interactions. A deeper study of these networks can provide insights into the growing process and the characteristics of this multi-billion dollar industry. In this regard, reliable network-formation models are required. Generating synthetic models for airline transportation networks is a difficult and current endeavor. The subnetworks induced by airline companies lead naturally to a multilayer structure. Upon a profound analysis of the benchmark European Air Transportation Network (EATN), we propose a novel approach, called Airline Network Generation Emphasizing Layers (ANGEL), to create synthetic multilayer networks mimicking the two patterns typical in air transportation networks, i.e., hub-and-spoke and point-to-point structures. Moreover, we introduce new statistics to analyze the EATN and to validate the synthetic network model, which can be applied to study multilayer networks in general.