Airline connectivity as a measure of the globalization of African cities

A city’s transnational airline connections are one measure of its globalization since such links are integral to globalization. In this paper, we use airline networks to (i) map the position of African cities in the global transnational urban network, (ii) explore the inter-urban relationships of major African cities and, (iii) to contribute to the literature on the globalization of African cities. We find that whereas many African cities have poor airline interconnectivity among themselves as well as internationally, and are thus ranked low on global transnational urban networks, some cities such as Johannesburg, Cairo, Cape Town, Nairobi, Durban, and Casablanca have developed relatively good international air connectivity and are thus relatively well integrated into the global transnational urban network. In particular, South African cities, especially Johannesburg, have substantially increased their air connectivity and place in the global transnational urban network since the advent of majority rule in South Africa in 1994.

Research highlights
► Africa is still not as well integrated into the global economy from an airline connectivity standpoint.
► Some African cities, notably Johannesburg, Cairo, Cape Town, Nairobi, Casablanca, Durban, and Tunis have become important cogs in Africa's air transport network.
► Whereas southern, eastern, and northern Africa respectively have Johannesburg, Nairobi and Cairo as their dominant airline hubs, west and central Africa have no such hub.
► While African cities do not rank high on the global urban air network, their airline connectivity and rank have grown significantly in the global era (i.e., since the 1980s).
► African globalization has been accompanied with substantial growth in the global air connectivity and quality of air transport infrastructure.