Estimation of the economic relationship of an airport to the regional economy : a critical analysis

Abstract

In the past decade many major U.S. airports have encountered extensive opposition to plans for future growth and expansion from environmentalists and community groups who cite the noise and air pollution created and the use of increasingly scarce land resources. In an effort to counterbalance these criticisms and highlight the regional benefits the airport provides, several airport authorities have completed economic impact studies which attempt to define the airport's role in the regional economy. In reviewing the airport economic impact studies which have been completed in the past twenty years, it is obvious that a wide range of methodologies have been developed to accomplish the common task of estimating the different elements of airport economic impact. This thesis provides an overview and critical evaluation of the techniques used in past studies to define what is the airport economic impact and how is the impact estimated in the absence of primary data. Three major economic impact categories, primary, direct and induced, provide the framework for analysis. An economic impact case study of Boston's Logan International Airport is presented to provide insight into problems common to all airport economic impact studies and the solutions to these problems in a specific situation. The need for and direction of future research to clarify and define the quantification of the airport/community economic relationships is also recognized and discussed.