Evolution and drivers of air passenger carbon emissions inequality at the city level

China has grown into the second-largest civil aviation market in the world. However, the city-level distribution of aviation emissions and driving factors have not been carefully studied, despite the opportunity to adjust aviation emission measures that maximizes benefits for cities that are socially and economically disadvantaged. Here, we examine the air passenger carbon emissions inequality trends of 43 cities across five major urban agglomerations in China and analyze the driving factors of the inequality. Our results show that the top 10 cities account for 77.54 % of the total air passenger carbon emissions and the total inequality is decreased by 29.77 % in 2014–2022 period. Transport economic ratio, population and per capita GDP are the main factors to the increase in inequality. Furthermore, specific recommendations for improvements for each city are provided based on spatial decomposition. This comprehensive insight provides policymakers with a nuanced understanding for formulating targeted and effective aviation emissions reduction strategies.