@bizjournalism

The Reynolds Center Horizontal Logo In Color

Two Minute Tips

Airports fly high as economic engines

October 6, 2014

Share this article:

A runway at Washington Dulles International Airport. Photo by Benét J. Wilson

Every town of any size wants commercial air service. and a new study makes it easy to understand why.

Preliminary numbers from a new study released by the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation found that the state’s 104 publicly owned airports accounted for a $13 billion economic impact, according to data compiled in 2012. (That’s the latest year for which the information is available.)

Breaking down the numbers further, that figure includes 123,500 jobs, $4.2 billion in annual payroll and $29.6 million in annual tax revenue.

Ohio’s seven commercial airports — Akron/Canton, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown-Warren — provided  $11.5. billion in economic impact, 106,000 jobs, $3.5 billion in annual payroll and bring in 3.6 million visitors a year to the state. (In case you’re wondering why Cincinnati’s airport was not included in the survey, it’s actually located in Northern Kentucky.)

Most states do these studies yearly or every other year. They serve as a treasure trove of hard numbers showing just how much money local communities receive from commercial and general aviation airports.  Check out this 1.54-minute video, which shows the economic benefits of Akron-Canton Airport.

RESOURCES

In case you’d like to get some information about your airport, here are some places to check.

Federal Aviation Administration’s airport data

National Association of State Aviation Officials

Airports Council International-North America

American Association of Airport Executives

Author

  • Benét J. Wilson

    Benét, known as the Aviation Queen, is a senior editor at TPG who is best known for being an aviation journalist for 25-plus years. Her love affair with travel and aviation began at age 6, when her Air Force family moved from California to a military...

More Like This...

Covering airlines after COVID-19

The airline industry creates 11.3 million direct jobs and contributes $961.3 billion to the global GDP. The industry as a whole is a big economic

EVs: The business of the electric revolution

Pollution is increasingly seen as a major downside to traditional automobiles. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a typical passenger vehicle emits

Two Minute Tips

Sign up now.
Get one Tuesday.

Every Tuesday we send out a quick-read email with tips for business journalism.

Subscribers also get access to the Tip archive.

Search

Get Two Minute Tips For Business Journalism Delivered To Your Email Every Tuesday

Two Minute Tips

Every Tuesday we send out a quick-read email with tips for business journalism. Sign up now and get one Tuesday.