Assessment of the Coupling and Coordination Ability of Airport Agglomerations

Airport agglomeration coupling coordination is a key indicator of healthy regional aviation development. This study constructs an evaluation index system from three dimensions—airport production, infrastructure construction, and network support—and assesses the coupling coordination capability of China’s four major airport agglomerations using the entropy weight method and a coupling coordination model. Furthermore, an Airport Consistency Index is innovatively introduced as the reciprocal of the coefficient of variation, and an overall coordination degree is developed under the framework of “balanced average level + consistency correction.” By incorporating the inverse coefficient of variation, the proposed index explicitly assesses airport agglomeration dispersion in coordination performance, thereby mitigating the risk that a strong performance at leading airports masks structural imbalances within the system. This refinement enhances the diagnostic precision of the overall coordination assessment by integrating both average development level and internal convergence. Based on calculations for 2020–2024, the overall coordination ranking is Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, Yangtze River Delta, and Chengdu–Chongqing. The Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei agglomeration shows strong and stable coordination with limited sensitivity to external conditions, whereas the Yangtze River Delta is more environmentally sensitive due to its large number of airports. The Greater Bay Area demonstrates solid coordination with substantial synergy potential, while Chengdu–Chongqing exhibits relatively weak coordination and considerable room for improvement. The proposed model effectively evaluates the overall coordination degree of airport agglomerations and supports targeted development recommendations.