Employment at Commercial Service Airports in the USA: Survey Results

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to ascertain the size and scope of employment at US commercial service airports (CSAs) by: (1) determining the number of full-time and part-time employees employed directly by the operating entities of CSAs; (2) determining the total number of employees employed at these CSAs, including those working not only for airport operators, but also for airport tenants; and (3) comparing the findings to figures found in literature. A literature review was conducted, and all 510 US CSAs were contacted by phone and/or mail and asked to complete a five-question survey. A response rate of 95.1% (n = 485) was obtained. Survey results indicate there are 45,067 full-time and 2,558 part-time employees directly employed by commercial service airport operators. Additionally, when airport tenants are taken into account, survey results indicate 1,154,660 people are employed at CSAs. This study provides more detailed airport employment data than that which is available in current sources, such as the US Department of Labor. It also provides a larger sample size and more comprehensive analysis than previous recent studies, such as the one reported in the November/December issue of Airport Magazine. Enplanements -Paid passenger departures or "boardings" (FAA, Report to Congress, p. 5). There were 650,808,785 enplanements in the U. S. in Calendar Year 2003. (United States Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, n. d.) 4. Large hub airport -"Airports that eachaccount for at least one percent of total US passenger enplanements" (FAA, Report to Congress, p. 7) 5. Medium hub airport -"Airports that each account for between 0.25 percent and one percent of the total passenger enplanements" (FAA, Report to Congress, p. 7) 6. Non-hub primary airport -"Commercial service airports that enplane less than 0.05 percent of all commercial passenger enplanements but more than 10,000 annual enplanements" (FAA, Report to Congress, p. 7) 7. Non-primary commercial service airport -"Commercial service airports that have from 2,500 to 10,000 annual passenger enplanements" (FAA, Report to Congress, p. 7) 8. NPIAS -National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (FAA, Report to Congress, p. v) 9. Small hub airport -"Airports that enplane 0.05 percent to 0.25 percent of the total passenger enplanements" (FAA, Report to Congress, p. 6) 10. General aviation airport -"Communities that do not receive scheduled commercial service or that do not meet the criteria for classification as a commercial service airport may be included in the NPIAS as sites for general aviation airports…." (FAA, Report to Congress, p. 8) LITERATURE REVIEWEmployment at CSAs is discussed in various sources. Among them are federal and state government documents, trade journals, and airport Web sites. These sources are further classified as:

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“…The jurisdiction of an airport operating entity traditionally lies with, but not limited to, the city, county, port district or authority, airport district or authority, private, and/or state entity (NewMyer, Korir, & Mehta, 2005). These classifications suggest possible sources for employment data which may include local or state governments, and individual airport websites and employment studies.…”