Research on the Synergetic Coupling Evaluation between the Yangtze River Delta Airport Cluster and the Regional Economy

To explore the coordinated development status between the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) airport cluster and the regional economy, this study takes the period from 2015 to 2023 as the research timeframe. It constructs an evaluation index system covering two dimensions: regional economy (including scale, structure, and benefit) and airport cluster development (including transportation scale, operation efficiency, among others). The Gini coefficient method and Pearson correlation coefficient method are used to screen indicators, while the entropy weight-standard deviation combined weighting method is adopted to calculate weights. Additionally, the coupling coordination model and geographical detector are integrated for in-depth analysis.

The results show that the coupling coordination degree of the Yangtze River Delta region as a whole and its internal provinces and cities has rapidly recovered from the severe imbalance during the COVID-19 pandemic, featuring an inherent characteristic of “gradient catch-up and coordinated upgrading”. Factors such as the growth rate of passenger throughput and local fiscal general budget revenue have been identified as core influencing factors, and the interaction among these factors presents trends of two-factor enhancement and nonlinear enhancement. This study provides a theoretical basis and practical reference for promoting the integrated and coordinated development of the Yangtze River Delta airport cluster and the regional economy.