Air Connectivity Between Countries: The Case of China and Australia, 2005-2016

Abstract

A Connectivity Utility Model developed in Zhu et al. (2017) is modified and adopted in this paper to assess air connectivity between China and Australia for a period of 2005-2016. Our direct connectivity measure shows that Sydney was in an unbeatable position throughout the study period. For Chinese cities, Shanghai took the lead in direct connectivity before 2013, followed by Guangzhou and Beijing. However, Guangzhou surpassed Shanghai from 2013 and became the best-connected city with Australia. For overall connectivity, Australia’s main airports have much higher connectivity than their Chinese counterparts. However, for smaller cities, their airport connectivity is rather small in value. Shanghai Pudong remained to be the best-connected city in China in terms of the overall connectivity. There have been rises and falls for airports serving as a hub between China and Australia. Guangzhou has forged its unbeatable status as an emerging transfer hub facilitating people movement between Australia and China thanks to the quick expansion of China Southern Airlines. The gaps between Guangzhou and other transfer hubs measured by hub connectivity have been becoming larger and larger since 2010.