Hub‐and‐Spoke Networks in Air Transportation: An Analytical Review

TLDR

Opportunities for enhanced analysis arise during the review, and research in this area may help solve a longstanding economics puzzle about allocating indivisible resources. The review surveys advances in hub location problem analysis and highlights the most pressing areas for further work. The authors survey advances in analysis of the hub location problem and its variants. The review finds that more reliable heuristics are needed for the multiple assignment model and its extensions, and that further research is required to understand when the model yields integer solutions.

Abstract

In this review we survey advances in analysis of the hub location problem and its variants. In the course of the review opportunities for enhanced analysis become apparent. We emphasize the most pressing areas for further work. We found that first, research needs to be devoted to developing more reliable heuristics for the multiple assignment model and its extensions and second, that additional research is needed to understand the conditions under which the model will tend to have integer solutions. Research in this area will contribute to the solution of a longstanding puzzle in economics about the allocation of indivisible resources.