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Airport and Economic Development Connections
 Airports facilitate commerce; they also serve as economic engines, and their direct, indirect and induced benefits accrue throughout the rest of the community as well. Airports support a range of business needs for their communities, including long distance professional travel, access for local shippers and customers to national or international markets, and even serving as centers for regional collaboration and training activities. Yet many times regional economic development activities often exclude or under-emphasize airports.
The fact is, because they provide feeder and direct air service connections, local, national and global economies benefit from airports as integral economic development elements. Site selection and supply chain sourcing professionals gain tangible competitive advantages from inbound and outbound air service to key markets.
The aviation industry has encountered extreme challenges over the last two decades, including high labor costs, high jet fuel prices, overcapacity in the domestic market resulting in reduced pricing power, bankruptcies and mergers. The industry currently faces significant shortages of pilots and mechanics, and the mass retirement of regional jets due to high operating costs.
Therefore, carriers focus on placing aircraft assets where they will make the highest financial and strategic return. Carriers have far more new service options than aircraft and crews, so smaller cities must be prepared to provide incentives and financial risk backstops to entice a network carrier to commit aircraft and crews to new local service.
The federal government has been concerned about the loss of connectivity to small communities and in 2002 initiated a grant program to help them improve their air service. An annual U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) program is designed to enhance and promote air service in small communities. The Augusta Regional Airport (AGS) is in the process of applying for this grant called the Small Community Air Service Development (SCASD) Grant.
This competitive federal DOT grant is awarded annually to support small and underserved markets. For the purposes of the SCASD Grant this year, the AGS has targeted the Washington, DC (primary due to Fort Gordon and SRS travels) and Dallas/Fort Worth (secondary) markets. The grant funds provide a subsidy or revenue guarantees to help defray some of the costs and risks associated with the startup of new air service.
One of the expectations of the grant is matching local funds. These matching funds cannot come from the AGS. As DOT assesses the grant applicants, one of their important criteria are public support or "skin in the game" from the local community.
Tomorrow's global commerce picture increasingly necessitates strong links between transport and economic development. The question is, how can we create the necessary linkages among regional transportation investments, regional economic development strategies, and airport planning? One way is to support our local Augusta Regional Airport (AGS) as much as possible. The required matching funds may be one way to do that. Contact AGS at 706-796-4002 or
[email protected] if the startup of these targeted new air service will benefit you and/or your company.
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On November 8, the Senate and House Armed Services Committees announced the details of their compromise Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This Conference Report merges the bills each committee passed earlier this year to create policy and spending authorization for this current fiscal year.
