مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

Commodity flows through air freight centers constitute an economically notable aspect of globalization. The trade-off of higher cost for faster speed favors high-value, technology-infused, low weight air cargo such as computer and medical goods, as well as time-sensitive items such as clothing and biological shipments (Ensign, 2014). Air cargo transport systems nevertheless remain under-examined in both theory and case studies (Bowen, 2004, 2012; Hesse and Rodrigue, 2006). The following study considers China’s creation of an Airport Economic Zone at Zhengzhou (ZAEZ), capital of central Henan Province, as an experimental zone for an air cargo production and logistics-based economy. The pattern of leading U.S.-headquartered cargo companies FedEx and UPS is referenced as is the aerotropolis model of urban airport-centered development since both are central to Zhengzhou’s aspirations (The Economist, 2015; personal communications, Zhengzhou development officials 2015).

This study hypothesizes that the locations of major air cargo integrators reflect development strategies in places targeted for transit-oriented activities as a tool to drive growth, particularly in lagging inland regions. Utilization of hub cities to strategically couple local economic strengths (particular products or services) within their related global production network (GPN) illustrates the further assertion that despite spatial pattern similarities, differences in air freight networks arise from the roles played by individuals and companies in the U.S. compared to the role of governments in China. This allows China to speedily implement ideas and examples from the U.S. to improve hub modernization and connectivity to these networks whose spatial fragmentation drives the restructuring of China’s air freight network (Hui et al., 2004). At China’s current stage as a rapidly developing economy, government policies accelerate the speed of integration by encouraging targeted foreign direct investment (FDI) to enhance export trade, strategically coupling local firms with global integrators, suppliers and markets (Mackinnon, 2012, 2013).

grators, suppliers and markets (Mackinnon, 2012, 2013). Networks globalize and accelerate the development trajectory of areas with a well-integrated intermodal transportation infrastructure location conducive to distribution functions, particularly in a nation’s interior region. These cities frequently function as cross-docking sites where goods are sorted and redirected to various destinations via land-based infrastructure connected to a regional airport. Spreading development into less prosperousregions expands spatial and policy impacts of air freight network locations. Hubs may be supplemented by functioning within a larger scale aerotropolis: “a new urban form where cities are built around airports speedily connecting time-sensitive suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and business people to distant customers, clients, and marketplaces” (Kasarda, 2013; aerotropolis. com).