Building and analyzing the US airport network based on en-route location information

From a complex network perspective, this study sets out two aims around the US airport network (USAN) which is built from en-route location information of domestic flights in the US. First, we analyze the structural properties of the USAN with respect to its binary and weighted graphs, and second we explore the airport patterns, which have wide-ranging implications. Results from the two graphs indicate the following. (1) The USAN exhibits scale-free, small-world and disassortative mixing properties, which are consistent with the mainstream perspectives. Besides, we find (2) a remarkable power relationship between the structural measurements in the binary graph and the traffic measurements in the weighted counterpart, namely degree versus capacity and attraction versus volume. On the other hand, investigation of the airport patterns suggests (3) that all the airports can be classified into four categories based on multiple network metrics, which shows a complete typology of the airports. And it further indicates (4) that there is a subtle relationship between the airport traffic and the geographical constraints as well as the regional socioeconomic indicators.