Comparing airline passenger destinations with global service connectivities : a worldwide empirical study of 214 cities

This research note compares two commonly employed data. sources in world city research-that is, (1) data on corporate organization and (2) information on air passenger flows. For both types of data we construct connectivity measures, which are then compared through a standard least squares regression analysis. The empirical specifics that emerge from our analysis are discussed through an examination of the regression residuals, which we interpret in terms of cities being underserved and/or overvisited or being overserviced and/or undervisited. Our findings are generalized by discussing them against the backdrop of Castells' description of contemporary globalization as a "network society."This research note compares two commonly employed data. sources in world city research-that is, (1) data on corporate organization and (2) information on air passenger flows. For both types of data we construct connectivity measures, which are then compared through a standard least squares regression analysis. The empirical specifics that emerge from our analysis are discussed through an examination of the regression residuals, which we interpret in terms of cities being underserved and/or overvisited or being overserviced and/or undervisited. Our findings are generalized by discussing them against the backdrop of Castells' description of contemporary globalization as a "network society."A