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Civil aviation is a crucial transportation mode, which plays a crucial role in air pollution. This study investigates the effect of aircraft frequency on the PM 2.5 level. This study evaluates whether flight frequency has a significant positive effect on air pollution based on the monthly data of aircraft movements from 59 major airports in China from January 2014 to December 2017 by employing the two-way fixed effects model. The effect occurs mainly through two channels, namely, the aircraft and the emissions while commuting to the airports. The former is significantly positive, whereas the latter is significantly negative. This study utilizes the spatial econometric methods to consider the spatial correlation. Results show that after considering the spatial correlation, the aircraft frequency also has a substantial effect on the PM 2.5 level. These results indicate that decision-makers should provide attention to air pollution driven by aircraft and emissions while commuting to the airport. This study also calls for the concern of the spatial correlation in the reduction of air pollution. Moreover, the study provides a distinctive contribution to the relative field by identifying the influence of each channel and considering the spatial correlation. • Explore the impact of the aircraft's frequency on the PM2.5 concentration. • Use a two-way fixed-effects model with samples of 59 cities during 2014–2017. • Aircraft's frequency has a positive impact on the PM2.5 concentration. • The railway plays a crucial role in mitigating effects of aircraft's frequency. • Considering the spatial correlation, the influence is more substantial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]