Research on the Optimization of Air Route Networks in the Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomerations from the Perspective of Spatial Interaction Intensityensity

Abstract

Scientific measurement of the spatial interaction intensity between the Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomerations is an important basis for optimizing the design of air route networks in the Yangtze River Delta region. This paper constructs a modified gravity model based on air distance and measures the spatial interaction intensity between the two urban agglomerations using data from 2015 to 2019. Our findings show that the spatial interaction intensity between the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration as well as its cities and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration presents a characteristic of "vertically steady increase and horizontal polarization", while the spatial interaction intensity between international aviation hubs, regional aviation hubs, and non-hub cluster cities of the two urban agglomerations is characterized by "vertically steady increase and horizontally gradient decline". Therefore, in the future, the Yangtze River Delta region should focus on consolidating the air transport links between Shanghai and Beijing, and significantly increase the frequency of air routes between hubs such as Nanjing, Hefei, Hangzhou, and Beijing, Tianjin, and Shijiazhuang. This will promote the coordinated "trunk and branch linkage" between hub and non-hub cluster airports and achieve differentiated and coordinated development among airports in the Yangtze River Delta.