Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
9.2.2
Effects of Deregulation on the Forms of Networks
One could assume that this world concentration results from gravitating logics,
where the richest and most populated cities of the planet interact more intensely,
being closer to each other. However, the application of the gravitational model to air
passenger traffic reveals the ineffectiveness of Euclidean space-time (
Amiel
,
2003
)
on the overall network structure. The current organization of world air traffic results
from various deregulatory processes. Indeed, with the advent of deregulation in
1978 in the United States, which then spread across the world in 1993, plane routes
no longer depend only on the exchange capacities of the places being connected or
on the “technological” limits of the apparatuses.
Other processes contribute to the structure and organization of air exchanges:
economic competition between companies or partnerships within
“alliances”, of
which the most well-known are Sky TEAM, Star Alliance and One World. These
alliances organize the division of air networks between various companies and
offer more destinations to passengers. The economic logic of these alliances de-
velops consumer loyalty through various programs providing specific advantages
(such as guaranteed reservations, seat choice, and frequent-flyer programs);
governorship within each company, which centers activities on air courses and
higher added-value activity sectors. Another type of governorship is produced by
company mergers, which create groups on an international scale that are able to
maintain a strong position in a greater number of markets;
development of airports and definition of hubs and spokes through agreements
between companies and airports to concentrate decreased traffic or average traffic
ranges to supply long-distance routes more regularly. The major factors in a
company's choice of airport are dedicated piers, reserved departure gates, the
number of takeoffs and increased landings.
Thus, the exchanges are actually organized in a reticular form where companies
charge for airport stops, redistributing passengers according to partnership agree-
ments between companies and between airports and companies. From any place in
the world, one stops at different airports to connect to the dominant network, which
in turn leads to stops at other airports to reach the desired destination. Thus, many
airports function as successive relays between every city on the planet, and the great
intercontinental exchanges simply reinforce the dominant network.
The network structure, which was hitherto subject to the will of the cities
and countries, is founded on supervised company strategies. For the most part,
companies are private, and their networks are organized to be as powerful and
profitable as possible, even to the detriment of a territorial homogeneous service
routes. Companies have fewer national loyalties (even if company's national history
still appears in its current structure), so the routes planned by companies cross
national borders and create a new transnational structuring of equivalent territories
(i.e., those connected to the same focal point or hub). Thus, the territorial logics that
prevailed prior to deregulation are becoming obsolete, and new territorialities are
emerging.
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