Airline network response to government policies: COVID-19 and Russian airspace closure

Maozhu Liao, Yilin Zhang and Tommy Cheung

Transport Policy, 2025, vol. 169, issue C, 74-89

Abstract: This study examines how airlines responded to two major external shocks: the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian airspace closure. Using monthly international schedules data from 2018 to 2024 on airline networks and government stringency measures, we apply both panel regression model based on Driscoll-Kraay standard errors and panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model, to analyze the effects of these disruptions on key airline network measures, including mean distance, clustering coefficient, network diameter, and network efficiency. Our findings indicate that increased stringency exposure during the pandemic leads to a contraction in airline network structures, with reduced global connectivity and network efficiency. In contrast, the closure of Russian airspace forces airlines to adopt longer routes, leading to an increase in mean distances but an improvement in network efficiency as airlines optimized their rerouted operations. The dynamic analysis reveals persistence in airline network characteristics, with significant long-term effects resulting from these external shocks. These findings contribute to the existing literature on airline network resilience and highlight the need for strategic planning to address both public health and geopolitical disruptions. The study also presents important policy implications, suggesting that governments and industry stakeholders should develop frameworks for enhancing network adaptability and ensuring global connectivity in the face of future crises.

Keywords: Airline networks; Policy shocks; COVID-19 pandemic; Russian airspace closure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X25001684
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:trapol:v:169:y:2025:i:c:p:74-89

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.04.026

Access Statistics for this article

Transport Policy is currently edited by Y. Hayashi

More articles in Transport Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().