Systemic Proposal for Improving the Mexican Air Cargo Transport Network

Abstract

The impressive technological advance in communications and transports demands updating the existing infrastructure of an air cargo transport network, adopting a formal decision-making process, in order to show a high performance, particularly in Mexico. This decision is necessary given the opportunities for new airport sites and the need to serve higher cargo volumes. In this sense, after analyzing the characteristics of the current air transport network in this country, the advantages of social network analysis are considered in terms of the delivery of centrality, intermediation, density or integration parameters, mainly, which provides a systemic support, necessary to achieve the desired improvement. Starting from simulating and evaluating the current system in its significant parameters, according to the operational statistics origin-destination of the national regular service, a strong centralization in Mexico City is shown. The contribution of the social networks methodology is illustrated comparing with a feasible alternative network, which incorporates two more airports as central hubs, those of San Luis Potosí and Querétaro. The simulation of the proposed case allows the visualization to evaluate the new values of the network parameters and, in this way, facilitates the required analysis to support future decisions, such as the situation of the availability of a new cargo airport structure and its associated flows.