Idaho Mountain Express: New airport would boost economy

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

New airport would boost economy

Sustain Blaine's stated focus is "economics," not "locations." Conversely, economic benefit would be derived from any of several options: Friedman, Sites 10, 10A or 12. The premise that Friedman is the only economic option is factually misleading; data from every option should be presented for completeness. Landrum & Brown, global leader in aviation planning, published a 60-page study (www.flysvra.com) concluding that relocation would create $30 million new revenue, 500 new jobs. None of their economic data, quoted below, was mentioned at Sustain Blaine's meeting nor reported in any news articles: "Economic/air service studies completed."

Landrum & Brown has also completed economic analysis, including an aviation forecast that assesses future demands for air service in the region, and an economic analysis of the air passenger market. In a nutshell, these reports confirm, due to the limitations on expansion and operations at Friedman, that the number of passengers utilizing Friedman cannot increase in the future and a replacement airport will stimulate new air service and produce a $30 million annual positive impact from new visitor spending, increased economic activity associated with improved air traffic and new employment. Nearly 500 new jobs are projected as a direct result of a replacement airport.

While the specific economic projections were calculated prior to the economic downturn of 2009, the findings clearly indicate that a significant positive economic impact will result from a replacement airport regardless of the economic events of the last year to 18 months. Based on this report, it is hard to dismiss relocation if the airport is truly the "driving engine" of this valley (another driving engine—tourism?). Trying to fit a square peg in a round hole only moves us closer to losing relocation opportunities and Twin Falls becoming the regional airport. As Wally Huffman stated in September, "Any airport is better than no airport."

Donna Serrano

Bellevue

viagra espana
viagra france
viagra online

About Comments

Comments with content that seeks to incite or inflame may be removed.

Comments that are in ALL CAPS may be removed.

Comments that are off-topic or that include profanity or personal attacks, libelous or other inappropriate material may be removed from the site. Entries that are unsigned or contain signatures by someone other than the actual author may be removed. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or any other policies governing this site. Use of this system denotes full acceptance of these conditions. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

The comments below are from the readers of mtexpress.com and in no way represent the views of Express Publishing, Inc.

You may flag individual comments. You may also report an inappropriate or offensive comment by clicking here.

Flagging Comments: Flagging a comment tells a site administrator that a comment is inappropriate. You can find the flag option by pointing the mouse over the comment and clicking the 'Flag' link.

Flagging a comment is only counted once per person, and you won't need to do it multiple times.

Proper Flagging Guidelines: Every site has a different commenting policy - be sure to review the policy for this site before flagging comments. In general these types of comments should be flagged: