Evolution of Chinese airport network

Abstract

With the rapid development of economy and the accelerated globalization process, the aviation industry plays more and more critical role in today's world, in both developed and developing countries. As the infrastructure of aviation industry, the airport network is one of the most important indicators of economic growth. In this paper, we investigate the evolution of Chinese airport network (CAN) via complex network theory. It is found that although the topology of CAN remains steady during the past several years, there are many dynamic switchings inside the network, which changes the relative relevance of airports and airlines. Moreover, we investigate the evolution of traffic flow (passengers and cargoes) on CAN. It is found that the traffic keeps growing in an exponential form and it has evident seasonal fluctuations. We also found that cargo traffic and passenger traffic are positively related but the correlations are quite different for different kinds of cities.