IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i16p6295-d394677.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Modeling the Evolutionary Mechanism of China’s Domestic Air Transport Network

Author

Listed:
  • Shengrun Zhang

    (College of Civil Aviation, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China)

  • Yue Hu

    (College of Civil Aviation, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China)

  • Xiaowei Tang

    (College of Civil Aviation, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China)

  • Kurt Fuellhart

    (Geography & Earth Science Department, Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA 17257, USA)

  • Liang Dai

    (School of Public Administration, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing 210023, China)

  • Frank Witlox

    (College of Civil Aviation, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China
    Department of Geography, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium)

Abstract

With the rapid expansion of China’s domestic air transport network (CATN), it is fundamental to model which factors and mechanisms impact this development. This paper investigates how the combined endogenous and exogenous factors influencing the evolution of CATN based on longitudinal data by utilizing a more all-encompassing methodology of stochastic actor based-modeling (SABM). Endogenous variables include a density effect, a betweenness effect, a transitivity closure effect, and a ‘number of distances-two’ effect. Exogenous variables incorporate airport hierarchy, a distance effect, presence or absence of low-cost carriers (LCCs) and high-speed rail (HSR). The systematic classification of Chinese airports into more than the typical two or three tiers allows the impacts of the four endogenous covariates to be revealed. Overall, the CATN has tended to evolve into a more compacted and non-concentrated network structure through the creation of non-stop routes and closed triads. The integrated inclusion of low-cost carrier and high-speed rail effects highlights the importance of market presence to the initiation of new routes at initial stages, cultivating potential demand and increasing accessibility. In addition, the construction of HSR to one primary airport within a multi-airport system can raise “shadow effects” for other airports. Our findings provide policy suggestions for airport operators in terms of developing accurate positions in the hierarchy and strengthening transfer ability.

Suggested Citation

  • Shengrun Zhang & Yue Hu & Xiaowei Tang & Kurt Fuellhart & Liang Dai & Frank Witlox, 2020. "Modeling the Evolutionary Mechanism of China’s Domestic Air Transport Network," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6295-:d:394677
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6295/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6295/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emil Gegov & M. Nadia Postorino & Mark Atherton & Fernand Gobet, 2013. "Community Structure Detection In The Evolution Of The United States Airport Network," Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(01), pages 1-21.
    2. Wang, Kun & Xia, Wenyi & Zhang, Anming, 2017. "Should China further expand its high-speed rail network? Consider the low-cost carrier factor," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 105-120.
    3. de Wit, Jaap G. & Zuidberg, Joost, 2016. "Route churn: an analysis of low-cost carrier route continuity in Europe," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 57-67.
    4. Lin, Jingyi, 2012. "Network analysis of China’s aviation system, statistical and spatial structure," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 109-117.
    5. Zhang, Jun & Cao, Xian-Bin & Du, Wen-Bo & Cai, Kai-Quan, 2010. "Evolution of Chinese airport network," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(18), pages 3922-3931.
    6. O'Connor, Kevin & Fuellhart, Kurt, 2013. "Change in air services at second rank cities," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 26-30.
    7. Xia, Wenyi & Zhang, Anming, 2017. "Air and high-speed rail transport integration on profits and welfare: Effects of air-rail connecting time," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 181-190.
    8. Liu, Xingjian & Derudder, Ben & García, Cándida Gago, 2013. "Exploring the co-evolution of the geographies of air transport aviation and corporate networks," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 26-36.
    9. Zhang, Yahua & Zhang, Anming & Zhu, Zhenran & Wang, Kun, 2017. "Connectivity at Chinese airports: The evolution and drivers," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 490-508.
    10. Huang, Jie & Wang, Jiaoe, 2017. "A comparison of indirect connectivity in Chinese airport hubs: 2010 vs. 2015," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 29-39.
    11. Wang, Jiaoe & Mo, Huihui & Wang, Fahui, 2014. "Evolution of air transport network of China 1930–2012," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 145-158.
    12. Fu, Xiaowen & Lei, Zheng & Wang, Kun & Yan, Jia, 2015. "Low cost carrier competition and route entry in an emerging but regulated aviation market – The case of China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 3-16.
    13. Chen, Ruowei, 2017. "Competitive responses of an established airline to the entry of a low-cost carrier into its hub airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(PB), pages 113-120.
    14. Alderighi, Marco & Cento, Alessandro & Nijkamp, Peter & Rietveld, Piet, 2005. "Network competition—the coexistence of hub-and-spoke and point-to-point systems," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 328-334.
    15. Wang, Jiaoe & Bonilla, David & Banister, David, 2016. "Air deregulation in China and its impact on airline competition 1994–2012," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 12-23.
    16. Chen, Zhenhua, 2017. "Impacts of high-speed rail on domestic air transportation in China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 184-196.
    17. Zhang, Qiong & Yang, Hangjun & Wang, Qiang & Zhang, Anming, 2014. "Market power and its determinants in the Chinese airline industry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-13.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hu, Yue & Dai, Liang & Fuellhart, Kurt & Witlox, Frank, 2024. "Examining competition among airline regarding route portfolios at domestic hubs under government regulation: The case of China's aviation market," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    2. Frédéric Dobruszkes & Jiaoe Wang, 2019. "Developing a low-cost airline in a semi-protected regime: Comparing China to Europe and the US," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/286424, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Dobruszkes, Frédéric & Wang, Jiaoe, 2019. "Developing a low-cost airline in a semi-protected regime: Comparing China to Europe and the US," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 48-58.
    4. Yang, Hangjun & Ma, Wenliang & Wang, Qiang & Wang, Kun & Zhang, Yahua, 2020. "Welfare implications for air passengers in China in the era of high-speed rail," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 1-13.
    5. Min Su & Weixin Luan & Zeyang Li & Shulin Wan & Zhenchao Zhang, 2019. "Evolution and Determinants of an Air Transport Network: A Case Study of the Chinese Main Air Transport Network," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-20, July.
    6. Wu, Chuntao & Liao, Maozhu & Zhang, Yahua & Luo, Mingzhi & Zhang, Guoquan, 2020. "Network development of low-cost carriers in China's domestic market," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    7. Wang Liao & Xiaoshu Cao & Shengchao Li, 2019. "Competition and Sustainability Development of a Multi-Airport Region: A Case Study of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-21, May.
    8. Zhang, Anming & Wan, Yulai & Yang, Hangjun, 2019. "Impacts of high-speed rail on airlines, airports and regional economies: A survey of recent research," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1-19.
    9. Wang, Jiaoe & Huang, Jie & Jing, Yue, 2020. "Competition between high-speed trains and air travel in China: From a spatial to spatiotemporal perspective," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 62-78.
    10. Wang, Kun & Xia, Wenyi & Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Qiong, 2018. "Effects of train speed on airline demand and price: Theory and empirical evidence from a natural experiment," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 99-130.
    11. Chen, Cheng & D'Alfonso, Tiziana & Guo, Huanxiu & Jiang, Changmin, 2018. "Graph theoretical analysis of the Chinese high-speed rail network over time," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 3-14.
    12. Wang, Wei & Sun, Huijun & Wu, Jianjun, 2020. "How does the decision of high-speed rail operator affect social welfare? Considering competition between high-speed rail and air transport," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-15.
    13. Wang, Lei, 2018. "High-speed rail services development and regional accessibility restructuring in megaregions: A case of the Yangtze River Delta, China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 34-44.
    14. Zhu, Zhenran & Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Yahua & Huang, Zhibin & Xu, Shiteng, 2019. "Measuring air connectivity between China and Australia," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 359-370.
    15. Xiaowei Tang & Siyu Ren & Xinyao Ma & Kurt Fuellhart, 2022. "Borrowing Power from Potential Entrants and High-Speed Rail: Entry Pattern of China’s Low-Cost Carrier," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-16, May.
    16. Li, Yongling & Wang, Jiaoe & Huang, Jie & Chen, Zhuo, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 on domestic air transportation in China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 95-103.
    17. Li, Hongchang & Li, Junru & Zhao, Xiaojun & Kuang, Xujuan, 2022. "The morphological structure and influence factors analysis of China's domestic civil aviation freight transport network," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 207-217.
    18. Li, Hongchang & Strauss, Jack & Lu, Liu, 2019. "The impact of high-speed rail on civil aviation in China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 187-200.
    19. Li, Zhi-Chun & Tu, Ningwen & Fu, Xiaowen & Sheng, Dian, 2022. "Modeling the effects of airline and high-speed rail cooperation on multi-airport systems: The implications on congestion, competition and social welfare," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 448-478.
    20. Zhang, Qiong & Yang, Hangjun & Wang, Qiang & Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Yahua, 2020. "Impact of high-speed rail on market concentration and Lerner index in China's airline market," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6295-:d:394677. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.