Evolutionary Characteristics and Robustness Analysis of the Global Aircraft Trade Network System

In the context of escalating geopolitical tensions, recurring aircraft safety incidents, and frequent unforeseen events, the security of aircraft supply faces significant challenges. This research employs complex network theory to analyze the evolutionary characteristics of three global aircraft trade network (GATN) systems from 2015 to 2024. It then applies the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method to assess node importance within the network and finally conducts a robustness analysis based on the node importance ranking. The results indicate that the number of participating countries has declined post-pandemic, while trade concentration has increased. Analysis of the node’s importance reveals that the United States holds the most critical role in the GATN. The global medium aircraft trade network is characterized by one dominant player alongside several strong competitors, whereas the global large aircraft trade network features multiple major players coexisting. Regarding network robustness, targeted node attacks cause significantly more disruption than random node attacks. After removing 10% of key nodes, the global small aircraft trade network’s average connectivity fell to 0.6, and efficiency dropped to 0.1. Similar patterns were observed in the medium and large aircraft networks, with connectivity decreasing to 0.4 and efficiency to 0.05. Under targeted attacks, the global small aircraft trade network is more robust than the medium and large ones. This study provides quantitative insights to help optimize aircraft trade strategies.