Study of air market between Italy and Spain

Abstract

This project has been created with the aim of studying and comparing the air market between two countries: Italy and Spain. This study is based on the network analysis of the two countries analyzed, evaluating the internal passenger air traffic, going to define which variables influence the centrality of the airports. This thesis is divided into different parts. It opens with a brief historical introduction, being the aviation market very recent, it is given a vision of how it has evolved in a few years. The structure of the market is then illustrated, identifying the value chain, actors involved, and network structures that characterizes it. Having a complete vision of the problem, a preliminary analysis is carried out, thus presenting the global characteristics of the European air market, analyzing the position of Italy and Spain in relation to the transport of goods and passengers, thus identifying the first similarities and differences through a GDP analysis. A special focus is given on the analysis of air passengers traffic in the two countries, which is divided into: Intra-EU and Extra-EU, going to identify the position in the European market and the largest airports that manage a greater volume of passengers. We begin to enter the heart of the analysis by studying the network of Italy and Spain in 2007 and 2017, analyzing how the structure has changed over a period of 10 years. Following this, a multiple linear regression model is developed, whose objective is to evaluate which variables analyzed influence the centrality of the airports in the considered country. The validity of the different assumptions will then be tested on the model created. The paper concludes by summarizing what emerged from the analysis, illustrating limitations of the model and providing an overview of how the research can continue.