An empirical study on air transport promoting the coordinated regional economic development: A perspective of spatial interaction

The impact of China's civil aviation on Coordinated Regional Economic Development (CRED) is becoming increasingly significant. Constructing and validating the mechanism and effects of air transport on CRED constitutes fundamental theoretical research underpinning the strategic position of air transport. This research can provide policy implications for promoting CRED. Based on the exploratory construction of the "logical mechanism of air transport influencing CRED," this paper empirically tests theoretical hypotheses using panel data of "region-pairs" among the seven major civil aviation regions from 2008 to 2023. The results indicate that: (1) Air transport significantly promotes CRED. This conclusion remains robust after addressing endogeneity and conducting robustness checks. (2) "Spatial interactions" act as a mediating variable and represent the primary pathway for this effect. (3) Air transport significantly strengthens the diffusion effects of factor flows between regions, narrowing disparities in resource endowments. Consequently, this exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between air transport and CRED. (4) Regional and temporal heterogeneity analyses reveal that air transport exerts a more pronounced positive effect on CRED between the Northeast, Central-South, North China, and East China regions and other regions. However, the role of air transport in promoting CRED exhibits a gradual decline over time.