Quantifying Airway Network Robustness With Information and Relative Entropy Methods

ABSTRACT The airway network, comprising both air route and airport networks, forms the backbone of the air traffic system, where it structural robustness is critical to operational safety and efficiency. This paper introduces time‐effect entropy (TE) and quality‐effect entropy (QE) to respectively characterize transmission timeliness and structural stability. From these, we define time‐effect order‐degree (TED), quality‐effect order‐degree, and a comprehensive order‐degree, incorporating a dynamic weighting mechanism to integrate the two dimensions. Based on relative entropy theory, we further construct an IORE model. Empirical analysis using national and East China air networks shows that IORE effectively captures the synergistic interaction between transmission timeliness and structural stability, with higher sensitivity to hub node and critical path failures. Targeted attacks—especially based on betweenness, Bonacich, and degree centrality—cause significantly more disruption than random attacks. The national network demonstrates superior robustness, with national air routes showing the highest structural stability, while airport networks exhibits a stronger dependency on critical hubs. Validation confirms high consistency between IORE and traditional metrics in node importance ranking (average Spearman's coefficient is greater than 0.9), ensuring accuracy and stability. The proposed model provides a theoretical foundation and practical support for enhancing network attack resistance, protecting key nodes, and optimizing topology.