Airports in Communes before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Airports, linking air transport with other modes of transport, are indicated as one of the elements influencing regional and local development. Their presence strengthens the communication accessibility of a particular place in space attracting investors and dynamizing its development. Recently, the functioning of airports has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic drastically reducing passenger traffic at airports, which also translated into the situation of related companies and people who live near airports (commune). Assessing the impact of an airport on the socio-economic situation in a commune is difficult because, on the one hand, they create jobs and attract investors and, on the other hand, they generate noise and pollution. In this situation, a preliminary study was carried out in five communes throughout Poland. The aim of the research was to determine how residents and representatives of communes perceive airports located in their communes, in the context of the impact of these airports on the socio-economic situation in communes, also in the situation when the airports face problems resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim was achieved using analysis of strategic documents of communes, analysis of data on the functioning of communes and airports in the period 2016–2021, and a diagnostic survey using interview and survey techniques. The survey research involved 600 respondents from 5 communes located in different regions of Poland and 5 representatives of their authorities. To analyze the collected material and present the results, Statistica v.13.3 and R/RStudio software were used.