Study on the Influence Mechanism of the Development of China's Civil Aviation Transport Industry on the Upgrading Of Industrial Structure

Abstract

China is currently in a critical period of transforming its development model, optimizing economic structure, and shifting growth dynamics. Addressing the issue of how to achieve industrial structure upgrading is an urgent task for the country. In the past, most of the literature focused on high-speed railway and road transport, and there is a scarcity of articles related to the civil aviation transport industry. The rapid development of the civil aviation industry in recent years has triggered population mobility, capital introduction, and scientific and technological innovation, which is of great significance to the upgrading of industrial structure. This paper takes the civil aviation transport industry as a breakthrough and explores the promotion effect of emerging civil aviation transport modes on industrial structure upgrading, which is quite innovative. This study employs panel data from Chinese cities from 2008 to 2019 to empirically examine the impact of civil aviation development on industrial structure upgrading. The findings indicate: (1) The development of civil aviation significantly promotes urban industrial structure upgrading. (2) A study of the mechanisms shows that civil aviation has a main effect on industrial upgrading by encouraging the pooling of labor and capital and improving the region's scientific and technological innovation capabilities. (3) In terms of industry heterogeneity, civil aviation impacts industrial development by promoting the growth of accommodation and catering, wholesale and retail, and finance sectors. In the Northeast, Central South, North China, East China, Southwest, Xinjiang, and Northwest regions, the effect of civil aviation on industrial structure decreases more slowly than in other regions. Period heterogeneity indicates a decreasing trend in the influence of civil aviation on industrial upgrading over time.