Abstract: To clarify developing problems of airports in China, summarize main features of mature hub airports, give useful suggestions for the development of China爷s hub airports, and lay foundation for the classification of Chinese hub airports, existing airport classification methods are studied and a reasonable evaluation index system is extracted.AHP(analytical hierarchy process)is employed to analyze the airport operating indicators, growth indicators and airport hinterland indicators in order to establish a comprehensive evaluation index system. 202 international airports in China are classified, summing up functions of major airports and different levels of airport development proposals. It is proposed to set up airport group and multi -airport collaborative development model with normalization of national airports爷passenger throughput, cargo and mail throughput and other indices.

Key words: hub airport, AHP, airport classification