Small regional airports operation: unnecessary burdens or key to regional development

Abstract

Abstract Regional airports represent not only important points of access to remote locations and parts of country with limited or lengthy ground access but also have significant economic impact on the surrounding region. On the other hand, every public airport with commercial operations must fulfil strict requirements with respect to international safety and security requirements, including operational readiness of the airport infrastructure and airport personnel qualifications. These requirements, which are virtually the same for small and large airports results in high operational costs. Small airports have problem to break even not only due to low throughput volumes but also limited other resources of income, e.g. non-aeronautical services, car park fees; which are substantial part of middle and large airport revenues. It is considered that a small airport with annual throughput under 200 000 passengers is not able to cover its operational costs and needs to be subsidized. At the same time, airports are important stimulators and catalysts of regional economic growth and development. Determining whether the indirect, induced and catalytic impact of an airport on a region outweigh the cost of regional airport subsidies would contribute to informed regional development policy and decision-making.