Aviation-Reliant Industry Sectors
Airport analysts should assess the role and impact of their airport’s service on industry sectors in the regional economy that are likely to be more dependent upon commercial service. Public data on economic activity in different industries are collected by the U.S. government and follow a specific set of standards to ensure statistical consistency, uniformity, and comparability. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) sets the standard for use by federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the collection, tabulation, presentation, and analysis of statistical data describing the U.S. economy. Industry-sector employment data are available from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) using the NAICS definitions. For more information and sources on NAICS, refer to Regional Economic Strengths.
Particular NAICS-defined sectors of interest would include (but are not limited to) the following:
NAICS 31-33 – MANUFACTURING
This sector comprises establishments engaged in the mechanical, physical, or chemical transformation of materials, substances, or components into new products. The assembling of component parts of manufactured products is considered manufacturing. Establishments in the sector are often described as plants, factories, or mills. They may use power-driven machines and material-handling equipment.
NAICS 51 – INFORMATION
This sector comprises establishments engaged in (1) producing and distributing information and cultural products, (2) providing the means to transmit or distribute these products as well as data or communications, and (3) processing data. The main industries in this sector include publishing (both traditional and online); the motion picture and sound recording industries; broadcasting; telecommunications; and Web search portals, data processing industries, and information services industries.
NAICS 52 – FINANCE AND INSURANCE
This sector includes establishments primarily engaged in financial transactions (transactions involving the creation, liquidation, or change in ownership of financial assets) and/or in facilitating financial transactions. There are three main types: those that (1) raise funds by taking deposits and/or issuing securities and, in the process, incurring liabilities (e.g., banks and credit unions); (2) pool risk by underwriting insurance and annuities (e.g., insurance companies); and (3) provide specialized services facilitating or supporting financial intermediation, insurance, and employee benefit programs.
NAICS 54 – PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND TECHNICAL SERVICES
This sector comprises establishments that specialize in performing professional, scientific, and technical (PST) activities that require a high degree of expertise and training. Activities performed include legal advice and representation; accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll services; architectural, engineering, and specialized design services; computer services; consulting services; research services; advertising services; photographic services; translation and interpretation services; veterinary services; and other PST services.
NAICS 55 – MANAGEMENT OF COMPANIES
The management of companies and enterprises sector comprises (1) establishments that hold the securities of (or other equity interests in) companies and enterprises for the purpose of owning a controlling interest or influencing management decisions or (2) establishments that administer, oversee, and manage establishments of the company or enterprise and that normally undertake the strategic or organizational planning and decision-making role of the company or enterprise. (Such establishments may also hold the securities of the company or enterprise.)
Establishments in this sector perform essential activities that are often undertaken in-house by establishments in many sectors of the economy. By consolidating the performance of these activities, economies of scale are achieved.
The availability and granularity of employment, wage, business count, or related data specific to certain industry sectors will vary depending on the particular sector and the regional economy of interest.
ACRP Self-Assessment Guide for Identifying Airport-Reliant Business
ACRP WebResource 1: Aligning Community Expectations with Airport Roles included a “self-assessment” guide for airports to collect information about the role an airport plays in directly supporting community business activity outside of the airport itself. Treating the contribution that air service makes via tourism and visitor spending separately, ACRP WebResource 1 included a section that focused on (1) business reliance on air cargo to ship products to market and (2) business reliance on aviation for business travel. Noting that commercial airports have larger business constituencies that are reliant on the airport for air cargo and passenger movements, ACRP WebResource 1 focused on helping airports identify methods for collecting data on these topics.
ACRP WebResource 1 identified several of the same industry sectors noted here, specifically:
- Financial services
- Administrative and support services
- PST services
- High-tech manufacturing
ACRP WebResource 1 also notes that air cargo can be critical for local businesses. Air cargo service is used by industries that require the high-speed performance of air transportation. These include businesses that produce or consume perishable items, businesses that produce high-value goods for which the cost of shipment is a small part of the total cost of the product, and businesses that rely on aviation to meet urgent demands, changing schedules, or stringent delivery requirements.
Finally, ACRP WebResource 1 includes a checklist, Identifying Airport-Reliant Businesses, to help an airport determine which industries in its region are most reliant on air transportation.
Summary
Some industry sectors are more likely to benefit from additional air service than are others. The research suggests that those sectors that are “tradeable” and service sectors are more likely to benefit than industries that produce goods. The sectors likely to benefit from additional air service include information technology, finance and insurance, publishing and communications, legal services, and management services. Some advanced manufacturing—such as that involving pharmaceuticals and life sciences—also has strong linkages to air service. Naturally, services that rely to an extent on sales to visitors (e.g., accommodations, food services, retail, entertainment) will also benefit from increased air traffic as well.
Air cargo and freight operations at airports also support regional economic activity. However, the confidentiality of information on shippers and shipments makes it difficult to clearly link an airport’s cargo and freight operations to business in the region. Nonetheless, airports with significant cargo operations will certainly support employment in the related fields of logistics, transportation, and warehousing. The rise of e-commerce has created new demands for employment in these sectors.
