Economic Impact of Publicly-Owned General Aviation Airports in North Carolina

Abstract

The economic impact of a general aviation airport may be substantial and can be an attraction for economic activity in the local community. This research applies a methodology for calculating the county-level economic impacts of general aviation airports that serve private business and personal aircraft, not scheduled passenger service. The research also examines the relationship between the economic impact and various parameters of the airport and the local county economy. The results of the analysis of these aspects provide other information for decision makers who have the difficult task of awarding grants for airport projects. Such information can supplement decisions on allocating limited financial resources for airport grants. The goal is to help decision makers determine which projects create the most economic impact.

The methodology for calculating the economic impact is based on a widely used and accepted input-output model, IMPLAN. The input data, employment or revenue, for the model were gathered from surveys to airport managers, tenants, and, major users of each airport. The output from IMPLAN gave direct, indirect, and induced values for economic output, employment, and value-added impacts. The IMPLAN impacts were supplemented with data from the hotel industry, visitors to the region using the airport, and tax revenue generated by the airport. IMPLAN calculates the direct impact in 2006 for North Carolina's general aviation airports to be $990 million in output, 7,400 jobs, and $287 million in payroll. The total economic impacts, including indirect and induced impacts are: approximately $1.8 billion in output; total employment impact of approximately 14,000 jobs; and total payroll impact of approximately $400 million. Besides economic impacts, the research estimated the annual property tax revenues per year for the aircraft based at North Carolina's general aviation airports to be approximately $6.0 million.

This research determined that the economic impacts of North Carolina publicly-owned general aviation airports increased from 1996 to 2006. This finding supports the recommendation to maintain or increase the funding at these airports. The types of projects that provide the most economic impact are capacity expansion projects at the smaller general aviation airports. The Division of Aviation should continue to use the IMPLAN model for future updates to the study for consistency and accuracy. An update to the study every five years would provide better information on cost efficiency of the various improvement projects.