Spatial Organization Mechanism of Aircraft Manufacturing

Unquestionably, aircraft industry plays an important part in both economy and security of a nation. However, few of articles have dealt with the spatial development of this industry sector. The purpose of this article is to analyze the dynamics of agglomeration and diffusion of aircraft industry.In a historical view, with some spatial analysis methods, this research discusses the characteristics and patterns of aircraft industry's spatial organization and evolution, globally, nationally and regionally respectively. We find out there is a 'Matthew effect' in aircraft industry of the world, and the spatial evolution of the industry is consistent with the nation's industrialization process. Then, it concludes that the main agglomeration forces consist of capital, talents, technology and cluster's advantages, and the main diffusion forces include comparative advantages, cost and risk sharing, emerging markets, development policy for backward regions and military requirements. All the factors can be divided into market forces making the spatial development of aircraft industry normal and non-market forces making that irregular. In particular, lessons from the USA and France are expected to be conducive to the rise of China's aircraft industry in the future.