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Air connectivity is a crucial factor for economic development, especially for a free port city such as Hong Kong. This paper examines the role changes of Hong Kong in providing connectivity for the international market that originates from regional airports in Mainland China. The time-dependent earliest arrival time method is employed to assess its connectivity levels compared with other Chinese air gateways in 1998 and 2018, with measurement of three indicators: accessibility, dependency, and centrality. Empirical evidence demonstrates that extensive progress of accessibility and dependency has been presented in both Hong Kong and other Chinese gateways as for liberal arrangements after 2001, while foreign transfers are still an inescapable theme to strengthen air connections. In addition, Hong Kong retained its hub status even while deemed inferior to Beijing and Shanghai in the international market of Mainland China, especially for the Northeast and East Coastal region and air travel to Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. What is more, although Hong Kong benefited from its massive traffic generation, major air gateways would be dispersedly located across Mainland China with the rise of central China, geographical proximity effect, and differential market cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The climatological spatial scales (CSS s) of meteorological droughts are investigated. • The CSS s of multi-timescale droughts in China are determined and attributed. • The CSS s generally show a significant decrease with increasing timescale. • The five climate anomalies have significant impacts on the multi-scale CSS s. • The climate anomalies and the CSS s show complex spatiotemporal interaction effects. This study investigates the climatological spatial scales (CSS s) of meteorological droughts in China and the linkages to climate variability. The Global Precipitation Climatology Centre monthly gridded precipitation with a spatial resolution of 25 km × 25 km for 1961–2010 is used. The standardized precipitation index at different timescales (1-, 3-, 6-, 9-, 12-, 24-, 36-, and 48-month) is applied to characterize meteorological droughts. The CSS s of meteorological droughts are calculated using a method considering spatial correlation and anisotropy. The relationships between the CSS s and main monsoons and climate teleconnections in five selected regions are quantified using dynamic spatial panel models. The five regions are South China (SC), the Yangtze River Valley (YRV), North China (NC), Northeast China (NE), and the Tibetan Plateau (TIB). The following results are obtained: (1) The CSS s of multi-timescale meteorological droughts in China are determined. The means of the CSS s at various timescales in China are 68.9, 73.8, 71.8, 69.7, 68.8, 65.9, 62.9, and 60.8 × 104 km2, respectively. The CSS s in eastern China generally show a significant decrease with increasing timescale. (2) Significant quantification relationships (R2 greater than 0.85) suggest that there is not a simple linear relationship between climate anomalies and the CSS s, but rather a complex spatiotemporal interaction including exogenous and endogenous interaction effects. The CSS s not only strongly depend on their neighbors on the same timescale but also significantly depend on the CSS s of neighbors on adjacent timescales. Three monsoon indices (Indian monsoon, East Asian monsoon, and western North Pacific monsoon) have significant impacts on the multi-timescale CSS variations in the five regions, especially for NE, YRV, SC, and TIB, while the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation affect mainly SC and YRV. These findings could broaden our understanding of the spatiotemporal relationships of droughts and be useful for drought risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]