Hierarchical structure of cities in the European Union: A study of air transport accessibility

The European Union (EU) has been evolving over the past years towards a goal of becoming an integrated economic space. Transportation, particularly, air transport, is a key step in the unification process, thus the development of the Single Air Market (SAM). The goals of this research are: (1) to identify the forces influencing air transport in the EU; (2) to identify the hierarchical structure of the major airports in the EU, and; (3) to compare the air transport hierarchy within the EU with networks of other modes of transport. This research uses unique variables as surrogates to traditional transport accessibility studies. Results indicate that the spatial patterns of core regions are similar to other studies, with variations in the peripheral spatial pattern.