Creating Employment and Prosperity in Europe

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The increasing trend towards globalisation
will only serve to enhance further the importance
of airports and air links to industry.
Within the European Union, the Single Market
and the opportunities for cross-border ownership
will also have a positive impact. A major
international airport with frequent links to
European and intercontinental destinations will
be to the regions of Europe what canals and
railways were in earlier times: a vital piece of
modern infrastructure which contributes to the
prosperity of the whole region and beyond.
A number of airport economic impact
studies have identified specific examples of
inward investment decisions which have been
significantly influenced by the presence of a
major airport.
Barcelona - an American multinational
selected the Barcelona area as the location
for its training centre to serve Europe,
Africa and South East Asia. The company
was looking for a coastal location in Spain
or southern France and the airport was a
critical factor in its choice of Barcelona.
Munich - in April 1998, Siemens decided
to move its Siemens-Nixdorf operation
from a peripheral location in Paderborn,
between Düsseldorf and Hannover,
to be close to the international airport
in Munich. Other high-tech companies
have established operations close to the
airport - Compaq, Texas Instruments,
Apple, Alcatel, Intel, Microsoft, Baxter,
Amadeus and Hitachi.
Düsseldorf - the airport has played an
important role in attracting in a large
number of overseas companies to the area:
• Within a radius of 25km of the airport
500 Japanese firms are located, with a
turnover of between 40 and 60 million
Euros.
• 420 US firms are located within the
catchment area of Dusseldorf Airport,
generating 44,000 jobs.
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Manchester - There is evidence that a
number of overseas firms decided to invest
in the Manchester area based on the
excellent freight and passenger transport
service provided by Manchester Airport,
including the planned expansion with the
second runway:
• Omega Engineering, a US manufacturer
and distributor of instrumentation,
selected Manchester as the location for its
new European headquarters;
• TECO, a Taiwanese electronics company
chose the north west of England against
competition from other regions of the UK,
Holland and Germany;
• Kellogg's, a US-owned food manufacturer
has maintained its UK headquarters in
the Manchester area because the airport
provides it with fast, efficient links to the
rest of Europe.
It is difficult to quantify this catalytic
impact as the location of any industrial or service
activity will at best be only partially
related to the existence of a successful airport.
However, there can be no doubt that substantial
numbers of additional jobs in the vicinity
of airports - particularly those with welldeveloped
networks of international scheduled
services - will be dependent upon the existence
of the airport. Generally any estimates of this
impact will assume a proportion of such jobs as
being related to activity at an airport. Figure 10
illustrates these figures for a selection of airports,
showing that such catalytic - inward
investment - and tourism impacts can almost
double the quantified direct and indirect economic
impact of an airport.
Competitiveness and Export Promotion
Through the passenger and freight services
which they provide, airports are crucial to the
ability of local companies to compete successfully
in highly competitive world markets.
UK data shows that there is a relationship
between the pattern of business travel by UK
residents and the pattern of exports from the
UK. This has been demonstrated for 23 countries
in North and South America, Africa, the
Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent and the
Far East. Whilst this statistical relationship says
nothing regarding the direction of causality
involved, it does underline the importance of
airports and air travel in international trade.
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