Research on Spatial Distribution and Service Level of Chinese Airport System
中国机场体系的空间格局及其服务水平

Based on the quantitative model and GIS method, this paper analyses the airports' spatial distribution, service coverage and air passengers flow in China. The result shows that Chinese airport system is imbalance in space and its structure is also unreasonable, which resulted in different spatial service levels, basically in accordance with Chinese economic pattern. Meanwhile, the air passengers flow is obviously agglomerated to the eastern coastal region, and its spatial connection and extension has the characteristics of hierarchy, which also shows some hub-and-spoke characteristics. The authors also find that Chinese airport system presents a "triangular balance pattern" spatial system with "Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou" as its centers, which will keep for a long time. Finally, the research shows that distribution of airport system is related to national or regional urban system. Therefore, with the rapid development of air travel, the regional distribution of new airports should be balanced and airport network and hierarchy system be optimized in future in China so as to induce a sound evolvement of the whole aviation network.