Network Change, Deregulation and Access in the Global Airline Industry
Author(s)
Bowen, John
Abstract
In the world economy, places of privilege and places of poverty are linked to one another by complex, overlapping networks across which flow people, goods, money, and information. This article considers one of those networks, that of the international airline industry. The position of dominant and dependent places in the world city system is made manifest by their stature in airline networks. Over time, networks shift and the relative advantage of cities within those networks is altered. This article examines changes in the centrality of gateways within the international airline industry between 1984 and 1996 and tests the proposition that changes during that period were disadvantageous to cities in low-income countries. The evidence points to a bifurcation of the developing world. Cities in developing countries that experienced rapid industrialization enjoyed a concomitant improvement in their position within the global airline industry. Conversely, cities in the poorest countries were the most likely to experience a relative decline in their centrality.
