Coastal Carolina Regional Airport (EWN) contributes $362 million annually to Eastern North Carolina’s local economy, supports 2,125 jobs, and provides approximately $12 million in state and local taxes, based on a report released Monday by the NC Department of Transportation’s Division of Aviation.
North Carolina’s publicly owned airports contribute more than $52 billion to the state’s economy and support 307,000 jobs. The report highlights the economic impacts of the state’s public airports and the related aviation and aerospace assets that support North Carolina’s aviation economy. NC Department of Transportation (NCDOT) created the report to help guide future investment in aviation infrastructure and to act as a tool for recruiting future aviation and aerospace industry.
All airports generate significant economic return for their communities and the state. The report contains data compiled and analyzed for NCDOT by North Carolina State University’s Institute for Transportation Research and Education. Andrew Shorter, airport director of Coastal Carolina Regional Airport stated that “Local airports are more than just a sum of their parts. In the case of EWN, the overall impact and value is felt regionally not only due to the commercial airline service but also the air cargo operations, business aviation, agricultural/medical air services, and flight training, to name a few.”
Impacts are calculated based on factors such as jobs supported by the airports and the businesses that rely on them, business and leisure travelers, and airport capital projects and operations.
“Our network of 72 public airports, and the aviation and aerospace assets that rely on them, help move our economy forward by creating jobs, supporting business growth and connecting people and companies to markets around the globe,” said Bobby Walston, director of NCDOT’s Division of Aviation.
Specific details for the economic contribution will be available later this month. View the full report, including the breakdown of each individual airport’s contributions, at ncdot.gov/aviation.
Submitted by: Leigh Ann Cook, Coastal Carolina Regional Airport