An airport’s economic impact is traditionally a measurement of the extent to which the facility contributes to an area’s employment. It is based on employment at the airport and in supplier industries.  Airport economic impact studies also usually include the effects of spending by travelers who fly into the region to visit for business or leisure activities. 

However, air service exerts major impacts on a region’s economy beyond those two facets. Air service facilitates businesses in the region by providing passenger transportation and rapid long-distance cargo movement. For businesses, passenger and cargo transportation services are intermediate purchases used to facilitate production or sales. For example, a company may acquire an electronic component that is part of a larger product. After production, that product may be sent by air to a customer. Similarly, business travel is a means to provide services or facilitate sales.

Changes in air service thus affect businesses and industries within a region. Air service changes can take many forms. An airport can see changes in the number of airlines that offer scheduled flights. Incumbent service providers can increase the frequency of flights to an existing destination or expand the number of domestic destinations served. New services can be added to international destinations. Each of these changes affects the region’s connectivity to domestic and/or international markets. 

For airport management and regional economic development officials, it is increasingly important for airports to retain and enhance their current levels of service and to improve that service as a means of preserving and increasing regional economic activity. A better understanding of the linkage between air service and regional economic activity is a fundamental building block.