ALPA Opposition To Pilot Bill Of Rights

[dougbush]

Your average County airport is a money pit, requiring far more in subsidy than it generates in economic activity.

It's difficult to quantify. An airport where I want to land/takeoff is an economic benefit to me, but that value doesn't make it into any economic impact reports.

MILLIONS OF JOBS

In 2013, a comprehensive study by PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded that employment from general aviation totaled 1.1 million jobs in that year.
AN ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE

That same study pegged the national total economic contribution of general aviation at $219 billion annually.
Additional economic impact can be inferred from the 2200 charter flight companies, 4,144 repair stations, and 569 flight schools operating 4653 aircraft. There are 3,330 fixed based operators, 18 “fractional” ownership providers and 261,806 airframe and power plant specialists.
- See more at: http://www.aviationacrossamerica.com....eyUnPEag.dpuf

[cub builder]

You guys are only thinking in terms of direct economic impact. Airports contribute significantly more to the local economy indirectly.

The county where I live sees the airport as a money pit, but they keep throwing money at it. Why? Because they also know that it provides a lot of services to the county and provides a pathway for people to bring funding to the county. Many businesses won't locate in a city with no air access. The local grocery chain just opened a large shopping center, but it never would have been on their map if their execs hadn't made numerous trips to the place in the company Citation. We have numerous politicians that frequent the place bringing federal $$ with them. They always fly in. For health care, I see several life flight transports per month flying in and out to move patients to better medical care by specialists or trauma centers. We also have a med flight helicopter based at the airport, but the helicopter is not capable of providing transport for all cases. (Premature babies especially require a large amount of equipment, so require fixed wing transport). The county just put up a $1/2 M subsidy to get another puddle jumper airline to connect us to the nearest hub. Why, because that $1/2M will end up netting the county substantially more in business and funding.

Sorry for following the thread creep. Now, back to bashing ALPA!

-Cub Builder