Geographical analysis of Libyan airports and their potential as a hub of air transportation

Abstract

Air transport has increased during the last three decades at the local level, regional and international. Passengers have preferred air transport to other modes of transportation. The research focused on geographical analysis of main Libyan airports, Tripoli, Benina, and Sebha International Airport. The research studied the ability and potential of the airports to be hubs of air transportation, comparable with Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, in Kenya at the regional level and Dubai International Airport at the international level. The methodology, involved a geographical location analysis of Libyan Airports, as a basis for comparison with Jomo Kenyatta Airport, and Dubai Airport, to find out which areas optimized geographically to be hubs of air transportation. Twenty (20) International air transport hubs, geographically distributed around world continents will be a unit of measurement of geographical location. The research, also examined the climate of these areas, and analyzed climate data for a period of five years from the year 2008 to the year 2012. Moreover, a measurement distance and time spent between five airports under the study and twenty (20) hub airports to figure out proximity to international hubs, also gives information about Libyan airports infrastructure, current situation and abilities. The study resulted that, geographical location of Libyan airports was ideal in terms of centrality and moderatiacy in field of air transport compared to Dubai and, Jomo Kenyatta airports. The prevailing climate in Libya ideally suited and lacks climatic phenomena that negatively affect airlines. In addition, Tripoli International Airport closest in terms of distance and flight time to arrive the twenty (20) hub airports, used in the comparative analysis.