Explaining the Dimensions and Components of the International Hub with the Market Development ApproachThe Subject of Study; Imam Khomeini Airport (IKA)

Among the most important competitive advantages in the air transportation market is having a hub airport for planning and establishing flight routes.The current research, in terms of the type of objective, is practical and has been conducted using a mixed method.In the qualitative part, after reviewing the literature and library studies, the theoretical framework of the planning research, and then to complete and explain the effective dimensions and components in the development of the international hub market, the statistical community includes experts and airport managers who had at least 20 years of experience in the Aviation Industry by Purposive sampling (judgment and snowball) method, 12 people were selected and semi-structured interviews were conducted with them until the Theoretical Saturation was reached.After data implementation and three stages of coding (open, axial and selective) using the theme analysis method, 172 primary themes were presented in the form of 31 organizing themes as components and 8 inclusive themes as dimensions of the conceptual model.In the quantitative part of the research, in order to confirm or modify the identified dimensions and components, by using a researcher-made questionnaire and targeted sampling, the opinions of 14 industry experts were obtained by Delphi method in two stages and the conceptual model was confirmed. Based on the results obtained, the main dimensions of the international hub with a market development approach for IKA airport include 8 dimensions of infrastructures, service facilities, economic factors, competitive factors, international cultural issues, geographic location, legal factors and agreements, political issues and sanctions