Assessment of connectivity of Russian cities with passenger air transport links with Mongolia and China

Abstract

Aviation passenger traffic is becoming increasingly important in international economic relations. The development of the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor is no exception. Despite the fact that the media focuses on projects for the construction of the new high — speed Railways and oil and gas pipelines, a significant part of economic cooperation is implemented through air transport links. The study examines all the air routes between Russia and China, as well as Russia and Mongolia, available in the peak summer schedule of 2018. All routes connect 13 cities in Russia and 30 cities of China and the capital of Mongolia, forming a separate air corridor between the three countries studied. The population of cities is certainly one of the essential factors determining the level of development of aviation ties. Nevertheless, other factors play an important role: the high centrality of the Russian economy, the dominance of the Moscow air hub as a transfer point, the weak development of interregional air transport and others. Among the identified trends, it is a high proportion of flights to Irkutsk from Mongolia and China — with not so significant economic potential of the city, the main factor determining the leading position of the city was the tourist attraction of the region for travelers from the countries in the study.