Airports enable a regions economy to function. Airports are an essential public service-enabling business to operate, individuals to travel freely, and the region to participate in the global economy. The ability to travel quickly, easily, and inexpensively to a number of destinations makes the North Central Florida region a more enriching and wonderful place to live and work.

The North Central Florida region needs to understand and address the economic impact of inaction regarding the establishment of a new airport. Regional policymakers need to identify and implement optimum solutions that mitigate the negative impacts of growth while capturing it's benefits.

North Central Florida needs to actively promote and 'brand' itself both locally and around the nation as a vital, globally connected, center of innovation, creativity, excellence and investment opportunities. A concerted effort to increase leisure tourism should also be undertaken. In addition to elevating the image of the region to support the lucrative convention market, leisure tourists may also discover investment opportunities here.

• Mobilize our collective resources through Private/City/County partnerships
• Our region needs to site and construct a regional airport facility now!
  

The availability of convenient, frequent and cost-effective air travel has become a primary criterion for many businesses in deciding where to locate or expand. This availability is of special concern to high-tech companies, knowledge-based service industries and headquarters of national and multi-national corporations. The catalytic effect of new airports, particularly international airports, constructed in an already urbanized area also extends to existing businesses, which are inclined to expand due to the much greater access of travel opportunities provided. The north central Florida region has been economically disadvantaged in that we presently have no centralized airport to facilitate targeted industry.

Convenient access to air transportation has been named by industry leaders as their top priority when deciding on corporate headquarters and regional division offices, and as their second priority for research and development facilities. (Dow Jones & Co., 1977) One study of the headquarters locations of companies with over $100 million in annual sales found that "the ability to maintain contact with those facilities and markets through air passenger transportation and telecommunications services" was among the most influential factors in determining the location of corporate headquarters. (Boyle, 1990)

When air transportation is mentioned by name in studies of business location, it is invariably cited as one of the most, if not the most, important factor driving location decisions. The presence of an airport and the types of service it provides are important considerations in the siting of business and industrial facilities. (Butler and Kiernan 1992)

Airports are major contributors to local and regional economies, and their economic importance has markedly grown over the last several decades. This has occurred in tandem with the rapid expansion of time-based competition in global markets. Airport economic impact studies have been hard-pressed to capture the ever-widening universe of benefits that airports confer to high-tech and information-based economies. Traditional impact studies typically seek to estimate the employment and dollar benefits associated with increased travel and trade that is attributable to airports. Many of these are very narrow in orientation and greatly understate the economic role of airports. Fortunately, new generations of much more rigorous methodologies have recently evolved that better capture the full breadth of airport-related economic impacts.