 Airports and regional development: economic growth or regional inequality?Noel Hiney and Marina Efthymiou Chapter 22 in Research Handbook on Air Transport Management, 2026, pp 287-298 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: Airports make a significant contribution to economic activity at international, national and regional levels. They facilitate travel and trade through the provision of air passenger and cargo services and make a major direct and indirect contribution to employment and business growth. In remote locations, airports also provide citizens with essential access to state, educational and medical services. The role of airports in a nation's economy is informed, if not dictated, by national aviation and economic policies, which are themselves influenced by international economic priorities and national government programmes. This chapter examines the link between airports and regional development with a focus on two adjacent European countries, the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland. Insights arising out of this study can help to inform an understanding of the relationship between regional development policies and airport activity in other countries. While both countries have significantly sized capital cities and a major airport, the concentration of economic and airport activity varies. Each state has a distinct national planning policy, with both focused on promoting a balanced approach to economic development and reducing geographical inequities across each country's regions. The authors of this chapter find that, in reality, economic activity continues to favour larger cities and regions, which creates further demand for employment and connectivity in larger metropolitan areas and their airports. The disadvantage to regions arising out of this disparity is strongly felt by regional airports, which can find it increasingly difficult to attract new route business at a time when they have to contend with poor economies of scale, increased competition from larger airports and reduced aeronautical revenue. To address these concerns, policymakers, airports and other key stakeholders need to adopt an approach which supports and enables integrated local planning and investment in environmentally sustainable regional infrastructure, as a key component of national economic planning. Keywords: Airports; Regional development; Economic contribution; Policy; Disparity (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:23436_23 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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