The devil is in the details: Differences in air traffic networks by scale, species, and season

• Directed, weighted, and dynamic US air traffic networks can be derived from public data.
• Air traffic networks can be distinguished into six conceptually structurally distinct types.
• Despite their differences, each type has a generally similar complex network architecture.

Although air traffic networks are widely studied examples of complex networks, past research has focused on only one type: the network of routes flown between airports. Although this network is important, other varieties of air traffic networks exist. This paper differentiates air traffic networks on dimensions of scale (airport vs. metropolitan area), species (business vs. leisure), and season (summer vs. winter). Although these networks share similar complex network topologies – they are scale-free, small-world, and modular – they are nonetheless different in substantively important ways. They capture different kinds of social and economic processes, are useful for investigating different kinds of research questions, and lead to different kinds of conclusions about how and where interactions are organized.