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Study says airports have $29 billion impact on Virginia

August 16, 2011

John Reid Blackwell - Richmond Times-Dispatch

Virginia's airport system had a nearly $29 billion economic impact on the state in 2010, according to a new study commissioned by the Virginia Department of Aviation.

That's a major increase from a 2004 study, which identified about $10 billion in economic impact from airports in the state.

"What this says is that the airport system here in Virginia is back on the upswing," said Cherry Evans, a spokeswoman for the aviation department.

In a 1995 study, the economic impact from airports was pegged at about $13.9 billion. The drop-off in 2004 shows the impact that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks had on the aviation industry, Evans said.

The Department of Aviation contracted with a team headed by ICF SH&E, an aviation consulting company, to conduct the most recent study, which was partially funded by the Federal Aviation Administration.

In the 2010 study, the biggest economic impact is from the two major hub airports in Northern Virginia — Washington Dulles International and Reagan Washington National airports. Those two airports contributed about $17.5 billion to the state economy in 2010.

"The Northern Virginia airports have a major spillover in terms of economic activity," said George Hoffer, a University of Richmond economics professor specializing in transportation.

"To have a major impact in terms of local employment, it really has to be a hub, because at a hub you have crew bases, larger facilities and more service personnel," Hoffer said about the two airports. "That is not to say that the other airports are not important."

Other, non-hub, commercial-service airports in Virginia were the source of $3 billion of economic activity.

Richmond International Airport created or supported 10,910 jobs and had an economic impact on the state's economy of nearly $1.1 billion, according to the study.

The study looked at Virginia's nine commercial-service airports and 57 general aviation airports and concluded that every job at an airport supports seven other jobs in the state.

The economic-impact figures include both direct impact from jobs at airports, spending by airports and travelers arriving in the state through airports, and indirect and induced impacts such as spending by businesses located at airports on supplies from other Virginia companies, and spending by people employed at airports.

The study also figured a $7.6 billion impact from off-airport businesses that depend on Virginia airports for business travel and to ship and receive goods.

The study said about 259,000 jobs are created by or sustained by Virginia airports, or 5.5 percent of all jobs in Virginia. That represents a payroll of $11.1 billion.

According to the study, more than 69,000 people board commercial aircraft in Virginia daily, more than 6,000 aircraft depart from or land at Virginia airports, and about 23,000 visitors arrive in the state by commercial airline or general aviation aircraft.