“一带一路”背景下中国国际航空网络的空间格局及演变

Spatial pattern and change of China’s international air transport network since the Belt and Road Initiative

2013年"一带一路"倡议提出将设施联通作为合作战略重点之一,航空网络作为设施联通的重要组成部分,其地位提升到新的高度。为评估"一带一路"倡议的提出对中国国际航空网络的影响,论文选取了2013年和2018年数据,从国际航线、国际航班以及通航城市3个方面分析"一带一路"倡议提出以来中国国际航空网络的空间格局及其演变特征。研究结果表明:①整体上来看,"一带一路"倡议并未从根本上改变中国国际航空网络的空间格局,仍以东亚、东南亚、美国以及俄罗斯等地区和国家为主,5 a来其变化主要集中在进一步加深与已有城市的联系;②从沿线国家来看,一带一路"倡议增加了与中国直接通航的沿线国家数量,并提升了沿线国家在中国国际航空网络中的地位;③越来越多的境内城市参与到中国对外开放格局中,且航线和航班在北京、上海、广州的聚集程度下降,而其他城市的航线和航班占比逐渐增加。

With the advancement of economic globalization and regional integration, the demands of communication and cooperation among regions increase rapidly. Relying on the unique advantages of speed, accessibility,and convenience, air transportation plays a significant role in the exchange of passenger and cargo among countries. The Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013, which has attracted the attention of the world.Since then, the background of China’s development has changed sharply, which brings new development opportunities for the expansion of the country’s air transport network and can be shown in the following ways: 1)International tourism as a way of having vacation becomes more popular among people in China, largely due to the rapid increase of income. According to the statistics from China Tourism Administration, the number of outbound tourists increased from 98.2 million in 2013 to 130.51 million in 2017, contributing more passengers for international air transportation. 2) International trade also contributes more to China’s prosperous international air transportation. 3) In the Belt and Road Initiative, facility connectivity was proposed as one of the most importance area of cooperation with countries of the region, and air transport network plays an important role in the realization of facility connectivity between countries. However, research on the change of China’s international air transport since the proposition of the Belt and Road Initiative is still lacking. To fill this gap, this study analyzed the spatial distribution and change of international air transport network of China in terms of air routes, flights, and navigable cities based on the data of China’s international air routes and flights in2013 and 2018. The results show that: 1) On a whole, in the past five years, the Belt and Road Initiative has not altered the original pattern of China’s air transport network, in which navigable cities formed the catchment centered on east and southeast Asia. 2) With regard to countries along the Belt and Road, their importance in China’s air transport network is increasing and the numbers of routes and flights are increasing distinctively. 3)The main hub cities in China were Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou in both 2013 and 2018, and more cities became secondary hub cities for different regions. New air transport routes and flights are operated in the existing navigable cities, showing that the direction of China’s international air transport development is to deepen the connection with existing navigable countries and cities.