With the rapid development of economy and the accelerated globalization
process, the aviation industry plays more and more critical role in today's
world, in both developed and developing countries. As the infrastructure of
aviation industry, the airport network is one of the most important indicators
of economic growth. In this paper, we investigate the evolution of Chinese
airport network (CAN) via complex network theory. It is found that although the
topology of CAN remains steady during the past several years, there are many
dynamic switchings inside the network, which changes the relative relevance of
airports and airlines. Moreover, we investigate the evolution of traffic flow
(passengers and cargoes) on CAN. It is found that the traffic keeps growing in
an exponential form and it has evident seasonal fluctuations. We also found
that cargo traffic and passenger traffic are positively related but the
correlations are quite different for different kinds of cities.