Selection of Secondary Hub Airport Location Based on Connectivity and Green Airport Solutions

The air transport systems can be represented as a network where airports serve as nodes and flight paths as links. The degree of connections between airports is defined as connectivity in air transport. With the increasing competition environment after liberalization in the air transport sector, the connectivity of airports is becoming an increasingly important issue. Thanks to Türkiye’s advantageous geographical situation, and the hub and spoke system applied to the network structures of the airline companies operating, the city of Istanbul has become a major transfer point. However, considering the increasing demand for air transport, population growth, tourism and trade volume, capacity constraints of airports, and existing and ongoing transport infrastructure investments, it is considered that the establishment of a polycentric network structure in Türkiye will increase the connectivity in air transport. In this study, in order to contribute to the development of the multi-center air transport model; a hub location selection model has been developed considering the factors affecting the connectivity of airports. GAMS software was used for model solution. In order to measure high-speed train accessibility, green airport applications and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, different scenarios were produced, and the solution results were evaluated.