The pattern of several airports sharing a regional air transport market is getting more and more popular. Under the background of the rising of the urban agglomeration, this linkage pattern between the urban agglomeration and the airport clusters is formed generally in the world. This paper clarify the related concepts, such as the airport clusters and the multiairport region, then based on analyzing the development of the airport clusters in the Yangtze River Delta, we make the following four observations: the density is still lower than that of the mature airport clusters in the world, there are space imbalances between the airports and the cities, the coordination among the airports has not yet been formed, and the zero-sum thinking still exists. With the mature airport clusters as the benchmark, we analyze the airport density, the hierarchical system, the functional coordination and the regional governance in the world. Based on the above analysis, we put forward four suggestions as follows: firstly, the airport clusters in Shanghai metropolitan should lead the integration of Yangtze River Delta airports, with the airport density around Shanghai being improved. Secondly, the airport clusters in the main metropolitan areas, such as Nanjing and Hangzhou, will be the important points. Thirdly, it is urgent for the main hub-airports and the main metropolitan areas to take a diversified positioning strategy. Lastly, in the Yangtze River Delta, a trans-administrative-area governance organization should be established, for smooth communication and coordination among airports.

Yangtze River Delta Integration  /  worldwide airport clusters  /  urban agglomeration