Airports are big Business! by Hans Dorries

The aviation industry is a dynamic and exciting blend of people, technologies, job opportunities, recreation and economic impact. Airports are part of the aviation industry.

The basic airport infrastructure consists of runways, taxiways, apron space, gates, and terminals. Initially airports were nodes of transportation which offered a change of mode and services such as fuel and aircraft maintenance.

Today airports are "big business". In general, airports are large, complex, and generally highly profitable industrial enterprises. They are an essential part of the nation's transportation system.

Airports provide hundreds of thousands of direct jobs and support a wide area in social and economic terms. Estimates have shown that for every job at the airport at least one indirect job is created in the region.

Airport benefits are the services that a local airport makes available to the surrounding area. Though several benefits exist, such as improved tranportation safety and comfort, the two services most empasized and attributed to aviation are the time saved and the costs avoided by travelers.

The United States accounts for approximately 40 percent of all commercial aviation and 50 % of all general aviation activity in the world. An extensive system of almost 20,000 airports support this activity, with 26 percent of the airports classified as public-use (open to the public) and 74 percent classified as private-use airports (closed to the public).