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- [Narrator] General aviation airports

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have a positive economic impact
on their local communities.

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But until now, the hundreds of
individual airports in Texas

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had a difficult time determining

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just what that economic impact really is.

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That's why researchers have developed

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a special web-based tool
that can be accessed anytime,

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showing just how important
airport activities are

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to the region.

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- General aviation
airports, smaller airports,

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one of their biggest challenges
is community education

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and raising the positive
image of the airport

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in the community.

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One of the best ways to do that

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is to demonstrate the
positive economic impact

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that the airport has
on the local community.

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- They really are lifelines

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to the larger business community

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in ways that we weren't able
to see before private planes.

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Visitors are able to fly into GA airports

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and take advantage of
the hotels, restaurants,

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local community events,

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and so, it really is a
way for small communities

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to be connected to the
state and the nation

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in ways that they may
not be able to otherwise.

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- So every few years, just
as a lot of other states do,

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we come out with an economic impact study

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that looks at the direct, indirect,

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and induced economic impacts of airports

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throughout the entire system,

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the state of Texas' system.

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But that's done every four or five years,

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and it's very cumbersome to update:

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it's expensive, it's a
heavy time commitment,

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and it's not something that can be done

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on a continuous basis.

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But we all know that things are happening

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at airports every day,

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and that's changing the economic
impact of those airports

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and collectively the economic impact

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of Texas' Aviation System.

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So we worked with TTI to
develop a dynamic tool,

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a web-based tool,

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that allows us to
continuously be assessing

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and looking at the economic
impact of individual airports

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and then the state as a whole.

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- So there's three types of data

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that we look for to be input:

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data related to the airport itself,

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the number of jobs at the airport,

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meaning airport administration,

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and then visitor information,

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that means the number

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of itinerant operations for
general aviation airports

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and also in enplanements

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for the commercial service airports.

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And then also information related

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to the businesses on the airport.

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- [Kaity] The tool is located
online and you can find it

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through TxDOT aviation's website, as well.

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You can see how visitor
increases, how tenant changes,

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how more employees at the airport

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might have a larger impact
on the community as a whole,

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and this calculator is really able

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to quantify that and give
that benefit a number.

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- We're a municipally owned airport

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so anytime we want to spend money,

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I need to really take
it to the city council

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and get approval through the city council.

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Obviously, spending tax dollars

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and the desire to spend
tax dollars wisely,

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we would want to be able to forecast

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what the economic benefits,

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what that would be.

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- [Narrator] For more information

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and to find the publications
for this project,

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please visit the TxDOT Research Library

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at the link shown below.