A 2004 study of 114 airports in Missouri is being used to support the notion that federal funds are well spent to bolster general aviation -- to the tune of $1.1 billion. The survey was performed by South Carolina-based Wilbur Smith & Associates for the MIssouri Department of Transportation. The big number reflects the sum that small general aviation airports are estimated by the survey to have generated via economic activity within the state. But it also breaks down to smaller, more personal, numbers. These airports, according to the survey, employ roughly 11,000 people, representing $364 million in paying jobs, mostly in smaller communities throughout the state. And the airports may not just keeping jobs, they may be bringing them. Quoted by the Springfield Business Journal, one local pilot stated, "people coming to this town who are going to build factories and bring corporate business ... are not coming in to that airline terminal across the field. They're coming into the GA facility."
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/news/older-missouri-survey-backs-ga-benefits