Airport Improvement Program March 11, 1988

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passengers. While the Master Plan derived values for each year, Table 2-7, illustrates the economic impact for the base year and the last year of each development phase. The estimate is based on the General Aviation Manufacturers Association methodology to determine the economic impact of an airport in a community.* The study provides an abbreviated method for determining a portion of the economic benefits derived from an airport. This method results in a conservative figure, since it is based solely on arriving transient passengers. The potential economic impact derived from Gateway North Industrial was determined using the GAMA method and applied to forecast itinerant operations. Briefly, the methodology consists of four steps as follows: 1. Determine Annual Non -based Itinerant Aircraft Arrivals (assume 50% of itinerant arrivals are non -based). 2. Multiply by 3.2 the average passenger load. 3. Multiply by $50.00, the average daily expenditure per visitor. Result: Direct dollar impact of visitors. 4. Multiply result by four, the cyclic multiplier within a local economy estimated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Result: Total annual economic impact of visitors. Applying this methodology to forecast itinerant activity at Gateway North illustrates a very favorable economic impact to the local economy. The greatest daily expenditures of transients are for car rental, lodging, food and entertainment. Since these services are limited in Ramsey proper, assume that the average daily expenditure per passenger is $35.00 per day rather than $50.00 per day. Also the average itinerant passenger load is assumed to be 2.5 passengers per operation rather than 3.2 passengers. The resulting figures in Table 2- 7 are thus conservative, but impressive in terms of annual direct impact and total economic impact. *"The Economic Importance of Airports and General Aviation" 2-39