Development of Airfreight Hubs in the Greater Pearl River Delta

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract: „Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it“ goes a famous saying by Confucius. My wish in writing this paper is to convince readers of the peculiar beauty and importance of the highly dynamic aviation landscape of the southern Chinese Pearl River Delta. Airfreight is an essential and highly sophisticated part of an economy’s logistics infrastructure. A functioning infrastructure is vital for the development of an economy, in particular for its international trade. As trade is a key component in China’s economic success formula, demand for an efficient infrastructure is high. Air transportation has become one of the most effective tools to explore and serve world markets. In today’s highly competitive business world, just-in-time delivery and good customer service are absolutely crucial. The overall trend towards fast reliable delivery and the transformation of China’s economy along with the value chain of production, have boosted demand for air transportation. Due to these developments, the air cargo market, which is still at low levels particularly in domestic transportation, is one of the fastest growing markets in China. The regional focus of this study is on the economic powerhouse of China, the Pearl River Delta (PRD) located in the southern province of Guangdong. Everyone who knows the highly industrialised landscape of the PRD would probably agree, that the region’s nickname „factory of the world” is more than appropriate. The PRD has the highest per capita output in China and generates about one third of national exports. The Greater Pearl River Delta (GPRD) consists of the PRD and the Special Administrative Zones Hong Kong and Macao. In many respects, it is one of the most interesting economic entities of the world. Economy and infrastructure are integrated on a very high level. The GPRD features many extremes: its strong economic power, its rapid growth that has been the highest in China for many years, its population density and last but not least, its aviation landscape. Within radial distance of about 100 km, five international airports are at service, creating the highest airport density in the world. Three of these airports are among China’s top five airports. The clear leader among them is Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), which has established itself as a major hub in Asia and has been the airport with the highest international air cargo throughput of the world for many years. Its dominant [...]