The Hub Competition in Delivering Air Connectivity between China and Oceania

Abstract

Aviation hubs are pivotal intermediate nodes for connecting people around the world. However, there has been limited investigation on the competitive hub landscape in the China–Oceania market. Employing an updated Connectivity Utility Model, we examine the hub connections provided by hubs in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, other Asian countries and Oceania from quantity and quality dimensions between 1997 and 2019. The results indicate that the solid growth of mainland China and Oceania hubs suppress the development of Hong Kong and other Asian hubs. The major competitions of the mainland China and Oceanian hubs have shifted from competing with hubs outside their respective regions to competing with hubs within their regions, while the primary competitors of other Asian hubs have changed from competing with each other to competing with hubs outside their region. In the monopoly market, the Oceanian hubs have always enjoyed the greatest monopoly superiority. In the overlapping market, the dominance of Hong Kong and other Asian hubs in both the quantity and quality dimensions has been challenged by mainland China hubs. In a semiregulated operating environment shaped by China’s centralized government, the coordination between airlines, airports and governments is crucial for future hub construction.