Graph Analysis of Connections in Ukrainian-Turkish Flight Routes Networks

Aviation is an important component of global logistics. Civil aviation uses a network of flight routes to perform transportation services. Air navigation service provider is responsible for development and improvement of a particular subnetwork of flight routes based on users' needs and safety criteria. Flight routes network includes a set of waypoints located at predefined locations and lines which connect two waypoints for a particular range of flight levels. Russian military invention in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 cases to closed Ukrainian airspace and significantly limit usage of Russian and Belarusian airspaces. Also, some Asian and African countries limit the usage of their flight route networks. Restrictions present in the global flight route network increase air traffic through Turkish airspace. Turkish subnetwork of flight routes holds the most transit traffic in Europe-Asia connections. In the paper, we analyze potential of cooperative usage of Ukrainian and Turkish flight route networks based on graph theory. Measures of waypoint degree, weighted by ranges degree and betweenness centrality are used for configuration analysis of joined network. Obtained results help to identify the most overloaded waypoints and indicate the capacity of waypoints located in the boundary line of both networks. Results of research could be useful for reconfiguration of the Ukrainian flight routes network before opening airspace to increase air traffic capacity for transit flights.