In article ,
"Neil Gould" wrote:

Hi all,

Two airports in our area are under "attack" by groups that would rather
not have air traffic in their new developments built beside the existing
airport or the airport taking up space in the downtown lakefront area.
While I can see many reasons why this is short-term thinking that would
not serve the best interests of the region, I realize that as a GA pilot,
I am biased. A similar situation existed in Chicago at the time Meigs was
closed that might shed some light on the reality of our situation.

Where did the GA planes relocate, and has this had any impact on the
owners' access to or use of their planes?

Has there been any impact on the business travel to Chicago?

Is all of the traffic handled adequately by O'Hare and Midway?

Is there any record of positive or negative economic impact?


Neil

Where do you live?

When I was in California, the Division of Aeronautics conducted (at the
prodding of CA Pilots' Assn.) economic surveys of GA airports to
determine economic benefits. At that time (1980s) the average benefit
was around $100K per based airplane! Some airports (Palm Springs, for
instance) were much higher, while some very small airports were less.

The opponents (mostly developers and eco-Nazis) did not like to hear
this news, so they lobbied against further studies.