Compared to the EU and US, China’s network has fewer airports per capita and
per unit area, and offers a lower level of service to passengers to get access to the
network (Paleari et al. 2010). The geographical density of airports in China has an
uneven distribution. There are only 1.5 airports per 100,000 km2 in China compared
with 6.4 airports per 100,000 km2 in US. Airports are mainly located in
eastern regions, particularly the Yangtze River Valley, Pearl River Valley and
Bohai Bay, while the western regions have only about 1.0 airport per 100,000 km2
.
The lowest density is in the Xinjiang region, where that ratio is only 0.6 (Yang
et al. 2008).