NATIONAL 

AIRSPACE SYSTEM

Airport-Centric 

Development

Report to Congressional Requesters

March 2013

GAO-13-261

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-13-261, a report to 

congressional requesters

March 2013

NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM

Airport-Centric Development

Why GAO Did This Study

GAO was asked to examine airportcentric development and the activities 

of airport operators and regional 

stakeholders to facilitate such 

development. In an effort to increase 

airports’ efficiency in moving 

passengers and cargo while bolstering 

the economies of regions surrounding 

airports, some airport operators, 

government officials, and business 

owners are exploring opportunities to 

strategically develop airports and the 

regions around them. This report 

describes the factors considered and 

actions taken by airport operators, 

government officials, developers, and 

others to facilitate airport-centric 

development. 

To do this work, GAO identified five 

factors that facilitate airport-centric 

development from relevant literature, 

interviews with experts, and 

observations at selected U.S. airports 

and their surrounding regions. GAO

examined these factors by reviewing 

relevant documents and interviewing 

stakeholders, including airport officials, 

business owners, representatives of 

development organizations, and 

federal, state, and local government 

officials. GAO selected 14 airports for 

more in-depth study. These airports 

were selected based on annual 

passenger enplanements and cargo 

amounts, and experts’

recommendations. The findings from 

these 14 airports cannot be 

generalized but provide insights that 

may be of interest to stakeholders in 

other regions. GAO is not making 

recommendations in this report. The 

Department of Transportation, the 

Federal Aviation Administration, and 

others provided technical comments, 

which were incorporated as 

appropriate.

What GAO Found

GAO found that airport operators, government officials, real estate developers, 

and other regional stakeholders are taking actions consistent with five factors 

when pursuing airport-centric development (development on the airport property 

to enhance the airport’s nonaeronautical revenue and development outside the 

airport that leverages a region’s proximity to the airport). 

• Development at the airport. Airport operators are developing or enhancing 

the number and types of services within airport terminals for passengers and 

visitors such as upscale shops and personal services; they are also 

developing services for passengers and businesses outside of the terminal 

areas but on airport property such as hotels and business centers. 

• Air and surface connectivity. Most stakeholders GAO spoke with noted 

that a region’s ability to connect to a variety of domestic and international 

destinations by air is important in attracting businesses, tourists, and cargo to 

the region. In addition to air connectivity, the routes taken by passengers or 

cargo to and from the airport may be enhanced by efficient highway, rail, and 

port connections. One example is the Metrorail extension, which will connect 

Dulles International Airport with downtown Washington DC. 

• Funding sources. Transportation improvements for airport-centric 

development may entail large capital-intensive projects that generally require 

pooling money from different sources. The federal government has a number 

of programs, such as grants from the Economic Development Administration, 

designed to support regional transportation-infrastructure development. State 

and locally generated money—such as state transportation trust funds, 

dedicated sales taxes, and highway tolls—have been used to match federal 

funds. Stakeholders in Memphis, for example, were awarded a $1.26 million 

grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, matched 

with $900,000 in local funds and in-kind services, to develop a master plan 

for their airport-centric development efforts. The private sector may also 

provide funding through a public-private partnership agreement. 

• Development in the region. Stakeholders GAO spoke with identified a 

variety of mechanisms to attract businesses, such as linking airport 

development to commercial activities in the region; identifying and leveraging 

unique cultural, tourist, or general qualities of the region; developing industry 

clusters (groups of complementary businesses); and designing policies or 

providing incentives to attract businesses to the region. 

• Stakeholder collaboration. Collaboration among various stakeholders can 

help achieve specific airport-centric goals. Consultation with residents near 

the airport and with committee composed of representatives from the airport 

and the public and private sectors is important; the lack of such consultation 

can make it difficult to implement development plans. GAO found that 

multilateral committees representing airport, public-sector, and private-sector

groups had been established to promote airport-centric development. 

View GAO-13-261. For more information, 

contact Gerald L. Dillingham, Ph.D., at (202) 

512-2834 or dillinghamg@gao.gov.
Page i GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Letter 1 

Background 4

Five Key Factors That Facilitate Airport-Centric Development 9

Concluding Observations 32

Agency Comments 33

Appendix I Examples of International Airport-Centric Development 36

Appendix II Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions 37

Appendix III Objective, Scope, and Methodology 52

Appendix IV GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 57

Bibliography 58

Tables

Table 1: Examples of Business Use of Multi-Modal Options at the 

Airport 19

Table 2: Federal Programs That Can Support Airport-Centric 

Development 22

Table 3: Global Airport Cities and Aerotropolises 36

Table 4: Alliance Global Logistics Hub Airport (AFW), Ft. Worth 

Regional Profile 37

Table 5: Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall 

Airport (BWI), Baltimore-Washington Regional Profile 38

Table 6: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Dallas 

Regional Profile 39

Table 7: Denver International Airport (DEN), Denver Regional 

Profile 41

Table 8: Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), 

Detroit Regional Profile 42

Contents 
Page ii GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 9: General Mitchell International Airport (MKE), Milwaukee 

Regional Profile 43

Table 10: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), 

Atlanta Regional Profile 44

Table 11: Indianapolis International Airport (IND), Indianapolis 

Regional Profile 45

Table 12: Lambert–St. Louis International Airport (STL), St. Louis 

Regional Profile 46

Table 13: Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Los Angeles 

Regional Profile 47

Table 14: Memphis International Airport (MEM), Memphis 

Regional Profile 48

Table 15: Miami International Airport (MIA), Miami Regional 

Profile 49

Table 16: North Carolina Global TransPark (GTP), Kinston 

Regional Profile 50

Table 17: Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), 

Washington, DC Regional Profile 51

Table 18: Bibliographic Databases for Airport-Centric Development 52

Table 19: Data Collection Method for Airport Purposive Sample 54

Table 20: Numeric Range of Values for Indefinite Quantifiers 56

Figures

Figure 1: Examples of Airport-Centric Development 2

Figure 2: Relative Contribution of Revenue and Grants at 30 Large 

Commercial Airports 2012 8

Figure 3: Key Factors That Facilitate Airport-Centric Development 10

Figure 4: Examples of Expanded Services Offered in Some Airport 

Terminals 12

Figure 5: Examples of Development Efforts on Airport Property 

Outside of Terminals 15

Figure 6: Example of Air and Surface Connectivity Benefitting 

Manufacturing, Repair, and Training 18

Figure 7: Purposive Sample of Airports 53
Page iii GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Abbreviations 

ADC Aerotropolis Development Corporation

AFW Alliance Global Logistics Hub Airport 

AGBA Airport Gateway Business Association 

AIP Airport Improvement Program

ATL Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport 

BID Business Improvement District 

BWI Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall 

 Airport

CBP Customs and Border Protection

CTI Composite Technology Inc.

DART Dallas Area Rapid Transit 

DEN Denver International Airport 

DFW Dallas/Fort Worth Airport

DOT Department of Transportation

DTW Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport

EDA Economic Development Administration

EPA Environmental Protection Agency 

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

FTZ Foreign-Trade Zone

GTP Global TransPark 

HUD Department of Housing and Urban Development 

IAD Washington Dulles International Airport

IND Indianapolis International Airport 

LAEDC Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation

LAX Los Angeles International Airport 

MAP-21 The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act

MIA Miami International Airport

MCEDC Morgan County Economic Development Corporation 

MEM Memphis International Airport (MEM 

MKE General Mitchell International Airport (Milwaukee)

MPO metropolitan planning organization 

PFC Passenger Facility Charges

P3 public-private partnership

STL Lambert–St. Louis International Airport

TIGER Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery

TIFIA Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act 

YIP Willow Run Airport
Page iv GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

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United States. The published product may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety 

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Page 1 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548

March 28, 2013

Congressional Requesters:

In an effort to increase airports’ efficiency in moving passengers and 

cargo while bolstering the economies of regions surrounding airports, 

some domestic and international airport owners and operators, 

government officials, and business owners are exploring opportunities to 

strategically develop airports and the regions around them. (For more 

information on such international airport activity see app. I.) These 

stakeholders view airports as a central piece of their development efforts, 

believing that businesses in close proximity to an airport can use that 

proximity as a marketing tool. For businesses that seek to satisfy 

consumer demand for timely delivery of goods and services, this close 

proximity can be an element of their business plans. Some efforts are 

also under way in the United States to promote development at airports 

and in the regions around them.

There have been several efforts in Congress to recognize this type of 

development (also sometimes referred to as an “aerotropolis") as being 

eligible for federal funding. The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st 

Century Act (MAP-21), which reauthorized several surface transportation 

programs, contains a provision that directs the Secretary of 

Transportation to establish a program to assist states in “strategically 

directing resources toward improving the efficiency of freight movement, 

on highways, intermodal connectors, and aerotropolis transportation 

systems.”1 Other bills to specifically include development at and around 

airports were introduced in the 112th Congress, but were not enacted.2

Given the possible economic benefits of airport-centric development, you 

requested that we examine such development efforts. This report 

describes factors airport stakeholders identified as considerations for 

airport-centric development and some of the actions taken by airport 

operators, government officials, and developers to facilitate airport-centric 

 

1

Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, Pub. L. No. 112-141, § 1115(a), 126 Stat. 

405, 468 (2012), amending 23 U.S.C. § 167(c)(1).

2

Leading and Expediting Aerotropolis Development Act of 2011, H.R. 1395, 112th Cong. 

(2011); Aerotropolis Act of 2011, H.R. 1371,& S. 1818, 112th Cong. (2011).

 
 

Page 2 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

development. For the purpose of this report, we define airport-centric 

development as development on the airport property to enhance the 

airport’s nonaeronautical revenue (see panel A of fig. 1) and development 

outside the airport that is intended to help the region economically by 

leveraging its proximity to the airport (see panel B of fig. 1).

Figure 1: Examples of Airport-Centric Development 

To address our objective, we identified factors that facilitate airport-centric 

development from relevant literature, interviews with experts, and our 

observations at selected U.S. airports and regions. We reviewed 

academic, industry, and government reports and other documents 

describing the role of the nation’s air transportation system, defining 

airport-centric development and related concepts, and identifying the key 

factors relevant for reviewing and understanding the nature and scope of 

airport-centric developments. From this work, we developed an 

organizational framework consisting of five factors considered by officials 

from airports and jurisdictions when pursuing airport-centric development.
 

Page 3 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

We selected 12 airports3

We conducted semi-structured interviews of airport officials, officials from 

businesses located adjacent to or near airports, representatives of 

international and national real-estate development organizations, local 

and regional economic-development specialists, and federal, state, and 

local government officials. The focus of these interviews was to gather 

information on airport-centric development efforts from the perspective of 

knowledgeable stakeholders. As a result, interviews inquired into the 

officials’ activities and motivations and their perspectives on the regional 

assets they identified as part of their development efforts. In collecting 

this information, we did not verify the accuracy of stakeholders’ 

statements, but instead used their statements to understand the 

perspectives of those participating in airport-centric development at the 

sites we selected. We use the indefinite quantifier, “some” “many,” and 

“most” to inform the reader of the approximate quantity of stakeholder or 

interviewee type within the regions where we interviewed who agreed 

with the particular statement or idea (see app.III for an explanation of how 

these indefinite quantifiers are used). We also reviewed the airports’ 

financial data from about 1997 through 2011, master plans, and other 

project plans. We analyzed the information obtained from these sources 

to better understand the context in which the regional stakeholders and 

airport operators approached airport-centric development.

with scheduled-airline service for more in-depth 

study of airport-centric development activities and the regions in which 

they were located. We selected these airports because of their passenger 

enplanements and annual cargo-weight landed and based on media 

releases about regions looking to leverage their airport to promote 

development, and experts’ recommendations. In addition to the 12 

airports with scheduled-airline service, we also studied two industrial 

airports that specialize in cargo and business services. We selected these 

two industrial airports based on their airport-centric development efforts.

(See app. II for profiles of the airports in our study.)

We conducted our work from June 2011 to March 2013, in accordance 

with all sections of GAO’s Quality Assurance Framework that are relevant 

to our objective. The framework requires that we plan and perform the 

engagement to obtain sufficient and appropriate evidence to meet our 

stated objectives and to discuss any limitations in our work. We believe 

 

3

See app. III for more information on our selection methodology. 
 

Page 4 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

that the information and data obtained, and the analysis conducted, 

provide a reasonable basis for any findings and conclusions in this 

product. See appendix III for additional information on our objective, 

scope and methodology.

The United States has approximately 500 airports served by scheduled 

airlines. Airports have long served as places for planes to take off and 

land, consisting of runways, control towers, terminals and other facilities 

that directly served airlines’ passengers and cargo. Airlines play a key 

role in the functioning of airport systems because they make decisions 

about which airports to serve and how frequently to provide service. 

Airlines may consider a number of factors in making these decisions, 

such as the presence of regional businesses and residents who are 

potential customers, the market share that can be obtained, the effects on 

their service network, and the service provided by competing carriers.

Over the last three decades some airports began providing a greater 

range of passenger and business services and increasing their 

concessions to increase their revenue stream. Airport operators began to 

view airports as a destination as well as a place from which to take off 

and land. By the early 2000s, many airports focused on upscale 

concessions, such as exclusive restaurants and designer boutiques, and 

other premium services, such as rental car facilities and parking facilities 

linked to the airport, to help maximize revenue generation.

John Kasarda, an airport and development expert, along with other 

researchers, noted these changes occurring at airports, both nationally 

and internationally, and began researching commercial development on 

airport property—referred to as the airport city—more than 15 years ago.

According to Kasarda and other researchers, development on the airport 

spills over to the surrounding region and results in a new urban growth 

form with the airport at its center. (See app. IV for a selected 

bibliography.) According to Kasarda, this new urban growth form, for 

which he coined the phrase, “aerotropolis,” is similar to the growth of the 

traditional metropolis, in which the central city is linked to the suburbs 

through a surface transportation system.

Studies on growth around airports have found that businesses that

require or benefit from air transport seek locations near the airport, 

Background 

Evolution of Airports
 

Page 5 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

extending as far as 20 miles. Regional corporate headquarters, 

information and communications technology complexes, retail, hotel and 

entertainment centers, manufacturing facilities, trade representative 

offices, big-box retail stores, health, wellness, and fitness centers, 

conference centers, and residential developments, for example, are 

increasingly being established near airports as a part of airport-centric 

development. Researchers have noted that plans for such development 

involve arrangements for targeted development to facilitate the efficient 

flow of surface traffic, attract complementary businesses, and mitigate 

environmental contaminants usually associated with airports to increase 

the speed at which airport-centric development occurs. Researchers have 

also noted that the benefits from the development on the airport property 

reach far beyond the airport into the surrounding region, which can, in 

turn, reciprocally benefit the airport.

Globally, aviation and airport systems vary and, in practice, the 

approaches to airport-centric development have varied. In several 

European countries and in the United States, airports were established 

decades ago and commercial development around most of those airports 

evolved in a piecemeal or ad-hoc way, without centralized planning or the 

cooperative efforts of airport operators, local and regional planners, and 

business developers. In the United States, the last large airports serving 

scheduled airlines that have been newly constructed on previously 

undeveloped land were the Denver (1995) and Dallas/Fort Worth (1974) 

International Airports.4 Operators at airports like Hong Kong and Incheon

in South Korea are beginning to incorporate elements of commercial 

development at their airports and some operators have introduced 

policies or incentives to encourage targeted airport-dependent land use 

and development at and around the airports. In countries in which the 

aviation and airport systems are much newer, such as China and the 

United Arab Emirates, officials are employing a centralized planning and 

cooperative approach to rapidly expand commercial development on and 

around airports.5

 

 

4

Commercial expansion was not the only reason for the development of these two green 

field airports.

5

Newly constructed airports built on previously undeveloped land are sometimes referred 

to as green field airports.
 

Page 6 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Airport operators at domestic airports with scheduled airline service rely 

on revenue from two types of activities: aeronautical and 

nonaeronautical.6 Aeronautical activities at an airport occur on the airfield 

or in the terminal areas where airlines operate. For purposes of this 

report, revenue generated from aeronautical activities includes fees 

airports charge airlines to operate within the airport and other fees paid or 

collected by aircraft operators, including Passenger Facility Charges 

(PFCs), and Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants.

7

PFCs

 

8 are fees, approved by the Secretary of Transportation, but 

collected by airlines for qualifying airports. Fees of up to $4.50 for each 

boarded passenger may be collected for some of the large airports with 

scheduled airline service controlled by public agencies. Airports may use 

these fees to fund Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-approved 

projects that, for example, make a significant contribution to: improving air 

safety and security, reducing current or anticipated congestion, reducing 

the impact of aviation noise on people living near the airport, or increasing 

air carrier competition.9

AIP grants, administered by FAA from the Airport and Airway Trust 

Fund,

10

 

6

FAA also recognizes two additional sources of airport revenue; grant receipts including 

Airport Improvement Program and state and local grants), and FAA approved Passenger 

Facility Charges. Stakeholders and experts involved in airport-centric development 

focused on the comparison between nonaeronautical and aeronautical revenue. We 

chose to highlight this distinction because of the focus of this report.

are one of the sources of funding for capital projects. The amount 

of AIP grants distributed to airports is based on the number of passengers 

handled, weight of cargo landed, airport types, and size and population of 

states. In addition, FAA awards discretionary AIP grants to specific setaside categories, such as noise mitigation and military airport conversions 

and national priority projects. The Airport and Airway Trust Fund is 

7

According to FAA, both PFC and Airport Improvement Funds may only be used to fund 

projects that are statutorily eligible and justified for those funds, they are narrower in 

scope than the broad term “aeronautical revenue” may imply.

8

The Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) was introduced in 1990, Omnibus Reconciliation 

Act of 1990. Pub.L. No. 101-508, § 9110, 104 Stat. 1388, codified as amended at 49 

U.S.C. § 40117. 

9

49 U.S.C. § 40117(b)(4)(A).

10Established under 26 U.S.C. § 9502(a). 

Financing Airports
 

Page 7 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

financed through taxes on aviation fuel and passenger airline tickets.

Airports may also receive capital funds through state and local sources in 

addition to federal funds.

Airport operators may also borrow the funds needed to finance capital

projects through municipal bond markets. Airport revenue, including 

PFCs, may be used to pay debt service on bonds issued for eligible 

projects11

Nonaeronautical activities include food and beverage, retail concessions, 

and parking, automobile rentals, and rent on land and non-terminal 

facilities, such as manufacturing, warehousing, and freight forwarding.

Nonaeronautical revenue may be used to reduce payments by airlines 

and may also be used to maintain and improve commercial services.

(See fig. 2.) At some airports, terminals used by specific airlines are also 

financed and built through agreements between the airlines and the 

airports.

. Because funds from bonds are issued based on projected

airport revenue, they are not considered by FAA to be a separate source 

of airport revenue. 

 

11AIP grants are not used for debt payments.
 

Page 8 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Figure 2: Relative Contribution of Revenue and Grants at 30 Large Commercial 

Airports 2012

Notes: Non-aeronautical revenue is equal to the sum of nonaeronautical revenues from airport 

operations (revenue from land and non-terminal facility leases, terminal food and beverage, terminal 

retail stores and duty free, other terminal services, rental cars, parking and ground transportation, 

hotel, and other revenues).

Grant receipts includes the amount of AIP, federal, state and local grants received and recorded as 

revenue during the 2012 reporting period.

Passenger facility charges includes the passenger facility charges received and recorded as revenue 

during the 2012 reporting period.

Aeronautical revenue is equal to passenger airline aeronautical revenue (all revenue derived from the 

aeronautical use of the airport by passenger airlines) and non-passenger aeronautical revenue (other 

aeronautical revenues not associated with the direct transport of passengers).

Some airport operators are pursuing public-private partnerships (P3s) to 

finance their commercial development efforts, outside of their financial 

agreements with airlines. P3s are negotiated contractual agreements 

between public entities, such as an airport, and a private entity such as a 

contractor or developer. P3 contractual arrangements can allow 

developers to build and operate a facility and then transfer the facility to 

the airport, although there are various types of P3 arrangements. Under 

one of these types of arrangements, the private developer provides all or 

part of the financing and intends to capture its development or 
 

Page 9 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

management fees. This type of P3 arrangement can provide the airport 

with the most leverage for commercial development.

Based on our research,12

(1) development at the airport, 

we found that officials from airports and 

jurisdictions considered the following factors when pursuing airport-centric 

development: 

(2) air and surface connectivity, 

(3) funding sources for development, 

(4) development in the region, and

(5) collaboration among stakeholders. (See fig. 3.) 

“Development at the airport” refers to existing infrastructure already in 

place and the actions of airport operators to enhance the viability of 

their airport by focusing on commercial activities to increase airports’ 

aeronautical and nonaeronautical revenue. “Air and surface 

connectivity” includes the routes taken by passengers or cargo to and

from the airport to and from other destinations that may be enhanced 

by highway, rail, and port construction and additional airline routes.

“Funding sources for development” include the funding for airportcentric developments as well as airport operations. “Development in 

the region” involves leveraging existing regional assets, expanding 

existing assets, or attracting new employment opportunities and 

business activity. “Collaboration among stakeholders” refers to the 

various actions that stakeholders can take to reach the goals and 

objectives that may further airport-centric development.

 

12Our research included a literature review and discussions with experts, airport officials, 

and regional stakeholders. (See app. III).

Five Key Factors That

Facilitate AirportCentric Development
 

Page 10 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Figure 3: Key Factors That Facilitate Airport-Centric Development

An airport’s ability to generate revenue and contribute to the regional 

economy depends on its ability to attract airline service, passengers, and 

cargo shipments. Airport operators’ development efforts occur on airport 

property and involve: (1) providing services that directly support airline 

operations; (2) providing an expanded number and type of services within 

the airport terminals for passengers and visitors from the region; and (3) 

developing services for passengers and businesses, including airlines, on 

airport property but outside of the terminal areas.

Officials at most of the airports in our review believed that their ability to 

attract and retain airlines was necessary to spur airport development. In 

particular, airline operators pay for their use of airport services ranging 

from the use of runways and cargo facilities, to the use of gates and ticket 

counters. Revenue from airlines for these services constitutes an 

important component of total airport revenue. In an effort to attract airlines 

and generate additional revenue, most airport operators we interviewed 

are expanding the number and type of services they offer, and some offer 

financial incentives. For example, some airport operators have begun 

offering services such as catering, maintenance, and warehousing that 

airlines or other third parties previously provided. Miami International 

Airport officials said that they waive landing fees for international and low 

Development at the 

Airport

Airline Operations
 

Page 11 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

cost carriers for the first 2 years in which the airlines schedule flights to 

Miami—forgoing some current airport operational revenue to help 

increase future airline operations while capturing more nonaeronautical 

revenue.13

As airport operators seek to attract revenue from passengers and visitors, 

they are renovating their terminals or improving their physical designs to 

improve the flow of people to the shops, concessions, and gates. The 

operators are also increasing the number and quality of retail and 

services—such as wine bars, massage spas, health care clinics, and high 

fashion shops—offered to passengers and, in some cases, visitors from 

the local area. (See fig. 4.) For example, the Miami International Airport 

was named one of the top 10 U.S. airports for dining and one of the 

world’s top 10 airports for retail shopping. The new $1.7 billion Tom 

Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport is to 

contain 140,000 square feet for premier dining, retail shopping, and airline 

club lounges. Also, the Atlanta City Council approved a $3-billion 

concession contract for 126 food and beverage locations at 24 retail 

locations at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

 

13Waiving landing fees is fairly common among airports.

Services inside Terminals 
 

Page 12 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Figure 4: Examples of Expanded Services Offered in Some Airport Terminals

Airport officials we spoke with in Miami and Los Angeles International 

Airports have cited the importance of passengers who arrive at or depart 

from their airports for the regional economy rather than those passengers 

connecting to other flights. Tourism is an important draw to each of these 
 

Page 13 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

regions, and airport officials have improved airport facilities to more 

efficiently process and admit international visitors and tourists through 

security and immigration and customs checkpoints.14 Airport officials at 

these airports said that Customs and Border Protection (CBP)15

Many airport operators are also developing airport property outside the 

terminal area to attract businesses and to use available land to generate 

revenue. Some have organized their management structures to include 

development or real estate offices to coordinate with airport management, 

developers, and public agencies. They are establishing commercial 

services and activities, such as hotels, parking facilities, and logistics 

parks, or leasing land for short-and medium-term use until it is needed in 

the future.

staffing 

can be insufficient at peak travel times and were concerned that 

international travelers might avoid their airports because of screening 

delays. These officials also believe that improvements to their airports 

could increase the rate of passenger and cargo processing if a sufficient 

number of CBP agents were available to staff inspection booths at peak 

travel times. However, many U.S. airports lack the space to expand their 

security facilities, and therefore, may need to identify innovative 

approaches to overcoming screening delays.

Most airport officials we spoke with said that the amount of available land 

on the airport property was a factor in their ability to attract commercial 

activities to the airport. Officials varied in the type and extent of 

commercial activities or land uses they were pursuing. Airport officials 

from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, 

 

14The U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration reported that 

travel of tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United 

States totaled approximately $128.2 billion in 2012. To facilitate tourism, the Obama 

Administration has increased staffing levels to process visa applications at U.S. 

embassies and consulates in countries with a high number of potential tourists.

15Shortly after its creation, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), within the Department 

of Homeland Security, began its “One Face at the Border” initiative by combining 

inspection functions from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Customs 

Service, and the Department of Agriculture. CBP agents are responsible for screening 

international passengers and cargo at U.S. ports of entry and exit. CBP also has programs 

to facilitate international trade, including: (1) the Customs Trade Partnership Against 

Terrorism program to secure the supply chain through partnerships with international trade 

companies; (2) the Free and Secure Trade program to expedite processing for pre-vetted, 

low-risk shipments; and, (3) the Container Security Initiative program to target and inspect 

high-risk cargo containers at foreign ports before they leave for the U.S.

Services Outside Of Terminals 
 

Page 14 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Los 

Angeles International Airport, and Miami International Airport said that the 

amount of land they had available limited their development options on 

airport property. According to officials in Miami, state law enabled the

Florida Department of Transportation and airport officials to obtain land 

adjacent to the airport property for the development of an intermodal 

transportation center. This center contains the rental car facility and 

connections to the Metrorail and TriRail commuter rail systems that 

service Miami and nearby cities. Airport officials at Indianapolis 

International Airport partnered with a community college to develop a 

worker-training program in logistics and distribution at the airport to meet 

an anticipated growing need for this skill. Officials at Lambert-St. Louis 

International Airport would like to develop cargo services, including 

warehouses and cold storage facilities, to attract cargo operations that 

could generate revenue at the airport. Their goal is to use cargo revenue 

to lower the cost of passenger flights in an attempt to increase passenger 

traffic. In addition, airports with land not being used for operation have 

found ways to generate revenue through temporary or short-term leases 

of airport property while also reserving the land for future aeronautical 

needs. We found that Indianapolis and Denver International Airports plan 

to develop solar energy farms on airport property; Denver International 

Airport produces more solar energy than any other airport with scheduled 

airline service in the United States. Officials at Dallas/Fort Worth

International Airport have leased a portion of the airport property for oil 

extraction. See figure 5 for examples of such airport land use and 

development.
 

Page 15 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Figure 5: Examples of Development Efforts on Airport Property Outside of Terminals

In two localities, airport and regional officials indicated that activities in the 

region were contributing to the commercial viability of the airport.

Regional officials told us that, in part, because of the U.S. automotive 

industry’s presence in Detroit, several of the leading Asian automobile 

manufacturers have established research and development facilities in 

the Detroit metropolitan area. In addition, these officials said that a vibrant 

Asian community, the availability of highly skilled engineering workforce, 
 

Page 16 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

and access to institutions of higher education offering degrees relevant to 

their careers attracted Asian automobile industry researchers. According 

to regional officials, these activities have increased the traffic at Detroit 

Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.16

Officials from Miami International Airport and the region discussed the 

symbiotic relationship between Miami International Airport and the Port of 

Miami. According to an official, the Port of Miami is the busiest cruise port 

in the world with over 4 million passengers annually. Of these 

passengers, 60 percent arrived in Miami through Miami International 

Airport. The construction of rail connections between the port, downtown 

area, and airport is expected to facilitate connectivity. These officials 

noted that the expansion of the Panama Canal to accommodate larger 

ships in 2014 will benefit Miami because large ships can use the Port of 

Miami and is to help to promote trade with Asia. If this expected growth in 

cargo operations occurs, then, according to port officials, the Miami 

region will benefit and, in turn, contribute to the growth of Miami 

International Airport by expanding its potential passenger and cargo 

markets.

Most stakeholders we spoke with believe that a region’s ability to connect 

to a variety of domestic and international locations by air is key to 

attracting businesses, tourists, and cargo to the region. Airport and 

regional officials sought to increase the number and frequency of flights to 

a variety of locations by establishing new relationships with foreign 

airports and business groups and offering incentives to airlines for 

additional destinations by the airlines. For example, airport and regional 

officials in Atlanta and Paris have begun cooperating on ways to promote 

their airport areas for business exchanges. Similarly, Miami International 

Airport officials visited and reciprocally hosted South African business 

groups to encourage business development and the flow of passengers 

and cargo between their respective regions. In July 2012, airport 

operators at the Memphis International Airport began a $1 million 

incentive program to attract new, non-stop domestic and international 

routes.

 

16Similarly, the inflow of short-term workers by air to the Washington, D.C., area has been 

identified as one of the factors that contributed to regional growth in high technology 

industries, although determining the causal direction of this relationship remains 

problematic. See K.. J. Button, and Henry Vega, “The effects of air transportation on the 

movement of labor,” GeoJournal, vol. 71 (2008) 67-81.

Air and Surface Connectivity
 

Page 17 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Despite efforts by airports to maintain good air connectivity to many 

locations, it is airlines that make decisions about what routes to fly. Most 

airport officials noted that the airlines’ decisions to change or eliminate 

routes can sometimes negatively affect the region’s level of air 

connectivity. In recent years, the General Mitchell International Airport in 

Milwaukee experienced a period of growth followed by a decline because 

of airline business decisions. According to the airport operator, the 

presence of three low-cost carriers increased the number of flight 

offerings, but the subsequent merger of two of those airlines and 

relocation of the third resulted in fewer flights. Similarly, officials in 

Memphis were concerned about potential loss of air services after a major 

airline announced plans to decrease its passenger services at Memphis 

International Airport in response to low demand making the route 

uneconomical for the airline. Among our selection of airports, international 

connectivity varied. For example, as of February 2013, 33 airlines served 

Dulles International Airport, offering direct flights to more than 40 

destinations in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and parts of Europe, 

South America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. By comparison, direct 

flights from General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee were 

limited to destinations in the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Because cargo may be transported below the passenger decks of 

airplanes,17

In addition to air connectivity, officials we spoke with discussed the need 

to improve the connectivity of their surface transportation system to 

attract businesses, especially those that handle time-sensitive or highvalue goods such as perishable items or electronic components. These 

officials cited the importance of identifying and marketing the various 

transportation modes of a particular region. For example, as mentioned, 

officials at the Port of Miami estimated that 60 percent of its cruise ship 

passengers arrive by air. This, they said, highlights the importance of an 

efficient connection between the airport and the seaport for moving 

tourists to and from cruise ships. Miami International Airport officials also 

a decline in international passenger flight offerings may affect 

a region’s potential to directly provide cargo access to international 

markets for those businesses that rely on air services.

 

17Approximately 15 percent of domestic air cargo (into and within the U.S.) and 34 percent 

of international air cargo (departing the U.S. for international destinations) were flown in 

the belly of commercial passenger aircraft, as measured in total pounds of air cargo flown 

over the 12-month period from July 2011 through June 2012. The remainder of domestic 

and international air cargo was flown on dedicated cargo flights. 
 

Page 18 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

highlighted the importance of an airport to highway connections for 

importing and distributing perishable items, including flowers and 

produce, from Latin America. They noted that many trucks transport 

cargo from the airport to the federal highway system daily, helping to 

distribute perishable food and produce imports to the United States. 

These officials also said that a viaduct dedicated to truck traffic was being 

built to stem a projected loss of $1 billion in revenue by 2015 because of

congestion on the roads between the cargo area inside the airport and 

the warehouses and freight forwarders in the nearby city of Doral. At

Indianapolis International Airport, officials cited the region’s rail and 

highway connectivity and the presence of FedEx facilities as important 

infrastructure to support a growing logistics, freight-forwarding, and 

distribution industry. Airport officials and other regional stakeholders in 

Memphis market its “Four Rs”—road, river, rail, and runway—to appeal to 

businesses that may rely on intermodal transportation. Figure 6 illustrates 

intermodal transportation systems and surface transportation connectivity.

Figure 6: Example of Air and Surface Connectivity Benefitting Manufacturing, Repair, and Training
 

Page 19 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

With access to multiple modes of transport, businesses can determine 

shipping routes and methods that are cost-effective and meet customer 

requirements. (See table 1 for examples of multimodal transportation at 

airports.) FedEx, for example, determines which mode is the most cost 

effective based on fuel prices, distance traveled, and time of travel and

selects the mode to use. Stakeholders in the Memphis region also noted 

that the airport’s geographic location provides companies with timely 

access to major U.S. markets and many places around the world.

According to a FedEx official, their ability to reach two-thirds of the U.S. 

population within 12 hours and most international locations overnight was 

a key factor in locating in Memphis.

Table 1: Examples of Business Use of Multi-Modal Options at the Airport

• Spirit AeroSystems, a spin-off of Boeing: (Kinston Airport) will expand operations in the North Carolina Global TransPark 

(GTP), where the company will manufacture the central fuselage section and leading edge wing spars for Airbus 350 wide-body 

airliners being assembled in France. The GTP site offers access to two Atlantic seaports from which finished aircraft sections 

will be transported and assembled in France and Scotland, to rail connections to move the large products to the port, and to an 

11,500-foot runway if delivery by air on a heavy-cargo transport jet is necessary.

• Caterpillar Inc.: (General Mitchell International Airport Milwaukee) manufactures large components of mining equipment that 

undergo final assembly in another country. The equipment is sent on trucks to ships at the port to mine sites around the world 

where the final equipment is assembled. However, if a problem results during final assembly, a human consultant or a small 

part can be sent by air.

• Composite Technology, Inc. (CTI), a Sikorsky Aerospace Services Business: (Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport) opened 

the world’s only bi-directional whirl tower at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, to repair and dynamically balance helicopter 

main rotor blades. Although most of CTI’s business is trucked in from its North American customers, the company relies on air 

freight services to receive and send some helicopter parts from other parts of the world (e.g., the United Kingdom and 

Singapore).

Source: GAO. 

Many stakeholders told us that a region cannot fully benefit from an 

efficiently run airport if the surface transportation needed to access the 

airport is congested. Surface congestion can increase costs, contribute to 

system inefficiencies, and delay on-time freight delivery. These 

stakeholders also considered ways to increase public transportation 

options to relieve congestion from roads while providing alternate 

transportation options to travelers and airport workers. Most regions in 

our review offer local bus services to their airports and many also offer 

local rail services, or plan to offer new rail connections between the 

airport and the central business district, downtown, for example, in Miami, 

Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Denver. Alternatively, a wellintegrated surface transportation network can provide the basis for an 

efficient logistics and distribution services within a region. Many experts 

we spoke to agreed that intermodal networks consisting of highways, rail 

capabilities, or waterways, linked to the airport may facilitate airport-
 

Page 20 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

centric development by improving mobility and allowing more people and 

cargo to access the airport.

Some experts we spoke with, as well as literature sources,18 discussed 

advancements in high speed rail and the potential for code sharing across 

modes of transportation as a way to free up additional capacity at the 

airport in some congested regions of the country and extend the region 

served by an airport. Under a code sharing arrangement, integrated airrail ticketing would allow a passenger to use both modes of travel through 

one purchase transaction. Some experts believe that high speed rail 

development could help contribute to the commercial development of 

airports. California is considering options as it develops its high-speed rail 

capabilities, with one potential plan to link San Diego through Los 

Angeles to Sacramento and San Francisco and airport officials in Miami 

told us that they believed a high speed rail link between Miami and 

Orlando would increase the number of passengers at Miami International 

Airport. Other experts, however, believe that high-speed rail could divert 

demand from air transport and reduce the need for commercial 

development at airports, especially if high speed rail is not directly linked 

to airports. Currently, roads and light rail affect airport development more 

than high speed rail.

Transportation improvements for airport-centric development may entail 

large capital-intensive projects that generally require pooling money from 

different sources. Federal funds are often sought, but airport and regional 

officials also seek other sources of funds for their development efforts, 

particularly intermodal funding and public-private partnership funding. The 

failure to obtain adequate funding can prevent or inhibit the growth of 

these airport-centric projects. Officials from the City and County of St. 

Louis and the State of Missouri were unable to obtain the funding they 

needed for airport-centric development after airport and the private sector 

representatives formed the Midwest-China Hub Commission in 2008.

After establishing a freight and commercial logistics facility at the airport, 

the commission sought to attract regularly scheduled freight service to 

Asia and Latin America and obtain foreign direct investment. Members of 

 

18Moche Givoni, and David Banister, “Airline and railway integration,” Transportation 

Policy, vol. 13 (2006) 386-397. Jan Vespermann, and Andreas Wald. “Long-term 

perspectives of intermodal integration at airports,” Airport Management, vol. 4, No. 3, 

(2010: 252-264. 

Funding Sources
 

Page 21 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

the commission visited China, established an office in Beijing, and hosted 

visitors from China. A Chinese cargo airline began scheduled flights to St. 

Louis in 2011; however, its operations were not sustainable without 

financial assistance, according to airport officials at Lambert-St. Louis 

International Airport. Stakeholders sought to obtain $480 million in state 

funding to: (1) subsidize the cost of initially flying goods out of the St. 

Louis region to China (2) provide tax breaks to companies engaging in 

foreign trade at the airport, and (3) subsidize the cost of constructing 

millions of square feet of warehouse and factory space in locations across 

the region. The commission was unable to obtain state funding and is 

delaying their airport-centric development efforts while it seeks funding 

from other sources.

According to an April, 2011, evaluation of the Global TransPark logistics 

airport-centric effort in Kinston, North Carolina,19

As shown in table 2, the federal government has a number of programs 

designed to support regional transportation infrastructure development, 

which some regions have leveraged as part of their airport-centric 

development efforts.

the TransPark received 

a total of $248 million in funding from local, state, federal, and private 

sources—far short of the estimated $733 million total cost of the complex.

Evaluators found that the TransPark Authority was unable to repay a $25 

million loan that had been made in 1993, because operations at the 

TransPark did not generate sufficient funds to repay the loan. The 

balance of the loan—$39.9 million because of interest accrual as of 

February 2011—is to be repaid by the state of North Carolina. One expert 

attributed the Global TransPark’s failure to attract sufficient business 

activities to recover costs in a timely manner to an original project design 

that was too optimistic and the financial risks surrounding large-scale 

projects.

 

19North Carolina General Assembly, Legislative Services Office, and Program Evaluation 

Division, North Carolina Should Weigh Continued Investment in the Global TransPark 

Authority and Consider How to Repay the Escheat Fund Loan, Report No. 2011-02 

(Raleigh, NC: April. 19, 2011).

Federal Funding
 

Page 22 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 2: Federal Programs That Can Support Airport-Centric Development

Program/Sponsor Description 

Economic Development Administration 

(EDA) 

EDA awards competitive grants, often for infrastructure, that prioritize innovative projects that 

address national strategic priorities (for example, global competitiveness), assist 

economically distressed and underserved communities, and demonstrate collaborative 

strategies across multiple jurisdictions.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) A pilot program to fund activities related to the compatible redevelopment of up to four 

eligible public use airport properties purchased for airport noise compatibility with AIP and 

PFC funds with certain restrictions.

A “noise” land disposal program under which airports may sell or lease land that was 

purchased by FAA for noise abatement purposes if the land is no longer needed for noise 

abatement; there are restrictions on the use of the funds. 

 a

New Starts Program/ Federal Transit 

Administration

A capital investment program for new fixed guide-way infrastructure, such as rail transit 

projects, including those that connect to airports. A maximum of 80 percent federal 

contribution to total project costs can be funded. 

b

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development (HUD)

Established in 2009, the Sustainable Communities Initiative offers competitive challenge 

grants to communities and regions wishing to improve access to affordable housing, increase 

transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment.

Highway Trust Fund The Highway Trust Fund is an account established by law to hold federal highway user tax 

receipts (e.g., receipts for federal excise taxes on fuel and other taxes on commercial trucks) 

that are dedicated for highway and transit related purposes. It is composed of two accounts: 

the highway account and the mass transit account. 

Transportation Infrastructure Finance 

and Innovation Act (TIFIA)/ 

Department of Transportation

DOT provides credit assistance under TIFIA for qualified highway, transit, passenger rail, and 

intermodal projects. Credit assistance includes direct loans, loan guarantees, and lines of 

credit, and project financing must be repayable in part of in whole from tolls, user fees, or 

other dedicated revenue sources.

Transportation Investment Generating 

Economic Recovery (TIGER) program/ 

Office of the Secretary of 

Transportation

c

The TIGER program fosters innovative, multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional transportation 

projects that promise significant economic and environmental benefits to an entire 

metropolitan area, a region, or the nation. 

Source: GAO. 

a

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Pub.L.No., 112-95, § 822, 112 Stat. 95, 129-130.

b

49 U.S.C. § 5309.

c

Although federal sources of funding—such as those identified above—

can sometimes be used to develop intermodal capabilities at U.S. 

airports, the primary planning and development responsibilities for these 

efforts rest with state and local government agencies. State and locally 

generated money—such as state transportation trust funds, dedicated 

sales taxes, and highway tolls—have been used to match federal funds. 

For example, contributions from the Commonwealth of Virginia, the 

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Fairfax and Loudoun 

Counties, and toll revenues from the Dulles Toll Road will be used to pay 

23 U.S.C. §§ 601-609.

Intermodal Funding
 

Page 23 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Metrorail 

connection to Dulles International Airport. A “transportation improvement 

district”20 was also established to help fund the Metrorail extension from 

downtown Washington, D.C. to the airport. States may also have their 

own credit assistance programs. For example, Florida used funds from its 

credit assistance bank to provide loans to help develop the Miami 

Intermodal Center at the Miami International Airport. The Miami 

Intermodal Center has levied a customer facility charge on car rentals to 

pay for its consolidated rental car facility.21

Some airport operators and an expert with whom we spoke said that 

FAA’s grant assurances and obligations—that is, requirements on the use 

of federally administered funds—can limit the airport operator’s ability to 

fund certain types of intermodal projects. For example, airport operators 

may use PFCs or AIP grants to fund rail access at airports, if the project 

is owned by the airport, located on airport property, and used exclusively 

by airport passengers and employees. PFCs may be used to fund related 

activities when they are a necessary part of an eligible access road or 

facility.22

There are also federal restrictions on the development and sale of airportowned land and the use of revenues generated from an airport’s land 

because of the grant assurances an airport accepts as a condition of 

receiving federal land or funds. Other funding sources on which airport 

operators generally rely to improve or commercially develop their airports, 

such as state grants and bonds, also involve various assurances.

 This requirement on the use of PFCs exists to avoid revenue 

diversion-the use of airport revenue for other than airport purposes. 

According to an expert we spoke with, the failure to meet these conditions 

may preclude an airport from using such funding to connect with a transit 

line that connects communities on each side to the airport because FAA 

would require that riders on the transit line begin or end their journey at 

the airport, rather than bypassing the airport.

 

20Transportation improvement districts can be established by local governments as a 

special tax on businesses in order to capture the value added to a business or property 

with close access to a rail project. Therefore, those who receive the benefits of increased 

economic activity or increased property value contribute to the project’s costs.

21Customer facility charges are surcharges on car rentals that can pay for the capital and 

operating costs of a transit system from a consolidated rental car facility. 

22FAA Notice, 69 Fed. Reg. 6366 (Feb.10, 2004) and FAA Order 5100.38C.
 

Page 24 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

A public-private partnership (P3) for airport-centric development usually 

refers to a contractual agreement formed between a public airport and 

private sector developers for the developers to renovate or construct and 

operate or manage an airport’s facilities on airport land.23

P3 projects thus involve negotiations between airports and developers.

Some airport 

operators view public-private partnership arrangements to commercially 

develop airports as an alternative or supplementary funding source to 

funds that may be limited by federal restrictions or grant assurances. The 

particular arrangements of public-private partnerships vary considerably, 

but developers may finance, design, build, operate, and maintain an 

enterprise (including charging fees) for a specific time period, after which 

ownership of the enterprise reverts back to the airport in most P3 

arrangements.

24

 

23Airport operators must obtain FAA’s concurrence to lease airport land or facilities to 

developers if the operator has obtained grants from FAA.

According to officials at one airport, the involvement of federal agencies 

and other third parties in those negotiations over issues such as the 

length of the lease and amount of profits to be shared extended the 

duration of those negotiations. Airport operators must obtain FAA’s 

concurrence prior to leasing airport land or facilities to private developers 

to help ensure, among other things, that the developer’s plans will be 

compatible with airport operations and that the airport receives fair market 

value for the use of its property. A developer in Dallas said that lease 

terms of 40 years are becoming more common at airports but are still 

relatively short and a potential reason why airports do not see more 

private investment. Officials at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport said 

that they were able to obtain FAA approval to extend lease terms beyond 

the typical 20-year period, but less than the 99-year lease that the private 

developers wanted, and that developers often seek in P3 arrangements.

According to FAA officials, the FAA does not normally consider leases 

beyond 50 years; however, FAA may approve these leases on a case-bycase basis. Officials at Miami International Airport said that they were 

using a P3 to develop their airport city to avoid increasing the amount of 

24The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey partnered with the private sector for the 

$1.2-billion expansion of Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport, which when 

it opened in 2001, represented the largest P3 of its kind at a North American airport. In 

October 2012, the Port Authority issued a request for qualifications for a P3 to replace 

LaGuardia’s main terminal in addition to new roads and taxiways with anticipated 

construction beginning in 2014.

Public-Private Partnership 

Funding
 

Page 25 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

debt already incurred to renovate the airport’s terminals.25 We have 

previously reported on the benefits and trade-offs of P3s and have 

expressed concern about how the public interest is protected in these 

projects.26 The most recent surface transportation reauthorization, MAP21, requires the Secretary of Transportation to develop standardized P3 

agreements, identify best practices, and provide technical assistance to 

P3 project sponsors.27

Denver International Airport illustrates another possible type of publicprivate funding, although a type that is likely to be of limited use to most 

U.S. airports. Denver International Airport, as part of the Denver 

Department of Aviation, receives funds from the sale and development of 

Denver’s previous airport, Stapleton. This land is being zoned as mixeduse and being developed primarily as residential communities. To 

develop the Stapleton site, a private non-profit corporation established by 

the city of Denver and the Denver Urban Renewal Authority, had to regrade the site to provide adequate storm water drainage; install water, 

sewer, and other utility lines; develop roads and interchanges; plan and 

develop parks and trails; preserve wetlands; and install community 

facilities, such as fire stations, a recreation center, a branch library, and 

schools.

Most local government and private sector officials with whom we spoke 

promoted their region’s existing assets and proximity to the airport to 

attract or expand businesses that benefit from air connectivity. Officials 

identified a variety of mechanisms to attract businesses, such as (1) 

linking airport development to commercial activities in the region, (2) 

identifying and leveraging unique cultural aspects of the region and 

promoting tourism or the general quality of life offered by the area, (3) 

 

25Miami International Airport has announced a $512 million public-private partnership with 

Odebrecht USA to construct an airport city on 33 acres of airport property. Commercial 

enterprises in the airport city will include a business center, a hospitality center and a 

convenience center that will include a dry cleaner, convenience story, gas station, and pet 

hotel/spa. Odebrecht will finance construction and pay rent and a percentage of the 

revenues to the Miami-Dade County in return for a 50 year lease.

26GAO, Highway Public-Private Partnerships: More Rigorous Up-Front Analysis Could 

Better Secure Potential Benefits and Protect the Public Interest, GAO-08-44 (Washington, 

D.C.: Feb. 8, 2008).

27Pub.L No. 112-141, § 1534, 126 Stat. 405, 584 (2012). 

Development in the Region
 

Page 26 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

developing industry clusters,28

Local government officials at many localities indicated that activities on 

airport grounds contributed to development in the region around the 

airport. Officials at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport told us 

that based on a 2009 economic impact study of the airport; they expected 

a new international terminal to increase airport operations and attract 

businesses and create jobs in the region surrounding the airport. These

airport officials noted that regional stakeholders have already established 

two new hotels, an office building, and the Georgia International 

Convention Center on property near the airport. The Mayor of Denver has 

said that development at the Denver International Airport has the potential 

to spur commercial development in the Denver region for decades, 

including development along a planned commuter rail corridor that 

connects the airport with downtown Denver. The Regional Transportation 

District

and (4) designing policies and providing 

incentives to attract businesses to the region.

29

Cargo service airports can also contribute to regional development. For 

example, Alliance Global Logistics Hub, an industrial cargo airport near 

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, developed in 1982, has attracted 

more than $7 billion in investments and 290 corporate residents, including 

50 companies listed on the Fortune 500, Global 500 or Forbes’ Top List of 

Private Firms. Although the North Carolina Global TransPark in Kinston, 

North Carolina, has not attracted the initial investment or new jobs initially 

envisioned, some development has taken place. The TransPark has, as 

of February 2013, attracted 13 tenants. One of the tenants received a Job 

Development Incentive Grant from the North Carolina Department of 

Commerce, and is expected to employ more than 1,000 workers by 2014. 

An official representing the TransPark said that new developments like 

the TransPark take time to fully install supporting transportation 

is building electrified commuter rail to Denver International 

Airport; airport officials are planning to build the terminal station and, in 

conjunction with the city of Denver, one or two additional stations to 

encourage development in the resulting corridor between the city of 

Denver and the airport.

 

28Industry clusters are groups of similar or complementary businesses located in close 

proximity to one another.

29This project is funded with New Starts funds (see table 2).
 

Page 27 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

infrastructure and utilities to attract tenants, but hopes that additional 

companies will locate at the TransPark.

Officials at Los Angeles and Miami International Airports cited cultural ties 

to other regions of the world and tourism as important drivers of 

passengers and cargo traffic. For example, airport officials in Los Angeles 

said that the city has large Korean and Iranian populations, and Miami 

airport officials spoke of the city’s close cultural ties with Latin America.

Officials in Los Angeles said that the large population of Asians in the Los 

Angeles region has reinforced strong cultural ties to Asian countries and 

has helped to support trade with these countries. Similarly, officials in 

Miami said that tourists from Latin America and the Caribbean visit Miami, 

in part, because of the cultural familiarity, the access to world-class tourist 

attractions and cruise ships, and the shopping options that may be 

unavailable in their countries of origin. In both locations, the regional 

aspects helped to attract visitors who use the airport and spend money in 

the region. Officials in Memphis said that some of their development 

efforts, such as developing Elvis Presley Boulevard and the potential 

redevelopment of downtown Memphis, are intended to increase tourism 

and attract more passenger flights to the area. They also noted that by 

drawing visitors to the region, the airport would generate additional 

revenue and airlines might offer more flights to the region.

In some regions, local officials told us that they were trying to attract 

complementary businesses to form industry clusters that might benefit 

from the availability of a skilled and interchangeable, or transferrable, 

workforce. For example, officials in Miami have been fostering growth in 

the region’s banking, insurance and legal services, by promoting its 

multicultural and multilingual workforce and its direct air connectivity to 

Latin America and the Caribbean. Stakeholders involved with business 

development in the Baltimore region expected that the influx of military 

jobs at Fort Meade would result in the growth of defense contracting jobs 

in the region. These officials anticipate that defense contracting jobs will, 

in turn, lead to additional growth in the region. For example, one regional 

stakeholder noted that the growing number of government consultants 

rely heavily on air transportation and area hotels. Executives at a private 

corporation in Detroit told us that they are trying to attract compatible 

businesses that could leverage the region’s strength in research and 

development in automobile electronics.

Most local officials we spoke with have implemented state, regional, or 

local tax-based incentives and land use policies to attract businesses and 

developers to their regions. For example, airport officials in Indiana, 
 

Page 28 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia have applied to 

the U.S. Department of Commerce for foreign trade zone30

Airport officials in three of the regions in our study said they have 

considered the potential to utilize one airport primarily for passengers with 

a nearby airport for cargo; however, those officials also identified potential 

challenges to splitting passenger and cargo operations. For example, 

officials from Los Angeles International Airport told us that it would be 

inefficient to move their cargo operations to nearby Ontario Airport in the 

Los Angeles region because much of the cargo passing through their 

airport travels in the lower deck of passenger planes. Officials at Detroit 

Metropolitan Wayne County Airport said they use nearby Willow Run 

industrial airport for air cargo to complement passenger and cargo 

services offered at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, but cited 

limitations in the airport’s runway length and condition. An official at 

Alliance Global Logistics Hub, on the other hand, said that the passenger 

services offered at nearby Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport 

complemented the cargo-only services offered at Alliance Global 

Logistics Hub because Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport offers 

designation at 

and around their airports to support tax-free manufacturing. Stakeholders 

in Detroit leveraged state-approved tax incentives to attract businesses 

that rely on the airport for commerce to a 60,000 acre area around the 

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County and Willow Run Airports. Local 

planning officials have affected particular land uses near airports through 

planning policies, including policies related to noise, environmental quality 

(air, water, wetland, species protection), and zoning restrictions. This can 

help with airport-centric development because it prioritizes limited 

developable land for uses that are compatible with airport operations and 

compliant with local, state, and federal requirements. At the HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport, a private developer cleaned up an 

abandoned industrial site east of the airport and sold a portion of the land 

to the City of Atlanta for the airport’s use and sold another portion to a 

high-end auto manufacturer. The auto manufacturer expressed interest in 

purchasing more land from the developer to attract another high-end auto 

manufacturer to develop and share a track on the site to attract 

prospective buyers to fly into the region to test drive cars.

 

30A Foreign-Trade Zone is an area that provides tax relief on goods and cargo that move 

through the zone, including light manufacturing such as assembly. 
 

Page 29 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

passenger services most major cities in the United States, Mexico and 

Canada within 4 hours.

While the economic viability of all-cargo operations at Ontario and Willow 

Run Airports is not yet known, we have previously identified regional 

airport planning as one approach to constrained capacity. Some 

metropolitan planning organizations (MPO) conduct regional airport 

planning as a part of their activities. In 2010, we found metropolitanplanning organizations that conduct regional airport planning have no 

authority to determine the priorities of airport improvement projects in 

their regions; MPOs do have authority over surface transportation 

projects. As a result, the regional airport plans that MPOs produce have 

little direct influence over airport capital investment and other decisions.31

Support and funding of regional airports depend on the FAA’s 

assessment of the project. Thus, GAO recommended that FAA develop a 

review process for regional airport system planning. According to FAA 

officials, FAA agreed to review its Airport System Planning guidance and 

revise or clarify it, if necessary, although the agency believed it current 

guidance was adequate.

Airport-centric development efforts in the regions we studied span 

multiple jurisdictions and involve stakeholders from the airport, the private 

sector, and the government sector. Based on our review of literature, our 

previous work,32

 

31GAO, National Airspace System: Regional Airport Planning Could Help Address 

Congestion If Plans Were Integrated with FAA and Airport Decision Making, 

and discussions with stakeholders in the regions we 

visited, collaboration among various stakeholders can help achieve 

specific goals. Consultation with residents near the airport and with city 

officials representing the interest of their constituents is an important step 

in the airport-centric development process. Without collaboration or 

agreement among stakeholders, development plans may be difficult to 

implement. Los Angeles International Airport officials, for example, would 

like to further expand the airport’s northern airfield to address safety and 

efficiency issues related to aircraft operations (including accommodating

GAO-10-120 

(Washington, D.C.: Dec, 23, 2009). 

32GAO, Intermodal Transportation: DOT Could Take Further Actions to Address 

Intermodal Barriers, GAO-07-718 (Washington, D.C.: June 20, 2007). GAO, ResultsOriented Government: Practices That Can Help Enhance and Sustain Collaboration 

among Federal Agencies, GAO-06-15 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 21, 2005) pp.6-7.

Stakeholder Collaboration
 

Page 30 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

larger aircraft); however, given the proximity of the airport to residential 

areas and community opposition to potential noise issues, there has been 

little public or political support for the airport’s expansion. As our previous 

work has shown early and continuous community involvement is critical to 

efficient and timely project implementation. For example, some airport 

operators are using AIP funds for long-term environmental planning; 

continuously self-monitoring their environmental footprints to help prepare 

for and address environmental issues; and soliciting community concerns 

to anticipate and address environmental issues. In addition, several FAA 

processes have been established to help airports address environmental 

concerns such as a streamlined environmental review process for airport 

projects where expansion is critical for handling the growth of air traffic.33

The stakeholders we spoke with gave examples of the ways in which they 

collaborated with other stakeholders, such as establishing new groups to 

promote airport-centric development. Regional stakeholders in Baltimore, 

Detroit, Indianapolis, Memphis, Milwaukee, and St. Louis formed 

multilateral committees including stakeholders representing the airport, 

the public sector, and the private sector. While these committees all had a 

general focus on airport-centric development, they focused on different 

aspects of airport-centric development and functioned in different ways, 

for example: 

In the future, as airports like Los Angeles International Airport learn to 

better manage their environmental impacts, airports may be better able to 

garner community support for airport expansion.

• The BWI Partnership is a business-development advocacy group, 

representing the airport and approximately 200 developers, hotels, 

law firms, banks, and local government members, and focused on 

supporting business development and efficient transportation in the 

airport region.

• The Detroit Region Aerotropolis Development Corporation (ADC) is a 

public-private economic development agency that works to attract 

businesses that rely on air cargo and passenger services. It is 

comprised of and funded by stakeholders representing seven local 

communities, two counties, and the airport. The Next Michigan 

 

33GAO, Aviation and the Environment: Systematically Addressing Environmental Impacts 

and Community Concerns Can Help Airports Reduce Project Delays, GAO-10-50 

(Washington, D.C.: Sept. 13, 2010).
 

Page 31 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Development Act,34

• Airport officials led airport-centric development efforts at and around 

the Indianapolis International Airport. In their early planning stages, 

airport officials invited representatives from nine neighboring 

jurisdictions, including the City of Indianapolis, to sign a nonbinding 

memorandum of understanding to explore potential targeted airportcentric development opportunities, based on land availability and 

existing assets and infrastructure, such as warehouses, and rail 

connections that might be utilized to support airport-centric 

development; the officials increased the number of stakeholders with 

whom to collaborate by expanding the area of consideration, from a 5-

mile radius to an 8-mile radius; and they began monthly stakeholder 

meetings. Airport officials also partnered with a local community 

college to establish a supply-chain logistics and freight-forwarding 

technical school on airport property to meet the anticipated demand 

for skilled workers in this trade.

a state incentive program, encourages interjurisdictional cooperation among local entities and allows them to 

create tax incentive zones targeted at businesses in the transportation 

and logistics sectors. According to the ADC the act contains a clause 

to prevent job displacement from another region of the State of 

Michigan.

• In 2006, the Greater Memphis Chambers of Commerce created the 

Memphis Aerotropolis Steering Committee, comprised of public and 

private sector stakeholders, to coordinate development efforts in 

selected targeted development areas surrounding the airport. This 

group has established various work groups to focus on gateways and 

beautification, marketing and branding, corridor business 

development, and access and transportation. The City of Memphis 

was awarded $1.26 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and 

Urban Development to partner with the Greater Memphis Chamber of 

Commerce, the University of Memphis, and Shelby County to develop 

a master plan for airport-centered economic development efforts. The 

federal funds were matched with $900,000 in local funds and in-kind 

services. 

 

34The Next Michigan Development Act allows local governments to collaborate to 

establish groups with the authority to create tax incentive zones targeted at the 

transportation and logistics industry. . 
 

Page 32 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

• The Airport Gateway Business Association (AGBA) was created in 

2005 to provide leadership in planning, promoting, and developing the 

vitality of the area around the General Mitchell International Airport in 

Milwaukee, marketed as the “Gateway to Milwaukee.” Funding is 

provided through an Airport Gateway Business Improvement 

District,35

Officials representing customs brokers and freight forwarders in Miami 

indicated the importance of collaboration between stakeholders. That is, 

the industry depends on well-established relationships between those 

responsible for importing and inspecting cargo and those routing it to its 

final destinations. Infrastructure is also necessary, including refrigerated 

storage, fumigation facilities, and information technology systems.

Another official, representing floral importers of Florida, said that the 

established infrastructure and relationships needed to support a supply 

chain are not easy to replicate and help to ensure that Miami International 

Airport does not lose its position to another airport as the primary gateway 

for most of the flowers imported into the United States. Officials at 

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport also explained that freight 

forwarders serve as “gatekeepers,” determining what route freight takes 

to get from its origin to its destination.

managed by AGBA, and stakeholders represent the State of 

Wisconsin, the City and the County of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee 7 

(seven counties united around an agenda to grow, expand and attract 

world-class businesses and talent), Visit Milwaukee, and the General 

Mitchell International Airport.

Based on our review of studies and discussion with regional stakeholders, 

we have developed an organizational framework that describes 5 

factors—development at the airport, air and surface connectivity, funding 

mechanisms for development, development in the region, and 

stakeholder collaboration—to consider when approaching airport-centric 

development. We could not determine if each of these factors are needed 

or if one factor could be substituted for another. However, consideration 

of these factors may be helpful as government officials and private-sector 

developers develop their plans and analyses when considering 

 

35The City of Milwaukee, Department of City Development, states that property owners in 

Business Improvement Districts voluntarily collect annual assessments that are spent on 

streetscape, marketing, recruitment, and other projects to enhance the local business 

environment. 

Concluding 

Observations 
 

Page 33 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

undertaking airport-centric development or projects supporting airportcentric development. Some countries enjoy the concurrent green field 

development of airports, the regions, and the facilities that comprise 

airport-centric development. In the United States, however, where there 

are many long-established airports, most airport-centric development is 

implemented through a series of targeted projects and activities to build 

upon what already exists. The success of these projects or activities does 

not ensure the success of an entire airport-centric development. Similarly, 

the presence of an economically viable airport in an economically 

successful region does not necessarily mean that targeted airport-centric 

development efforts were responsible for success.

We provided a draft of this report to the Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA), the Department of Commerce (DOC), the Department of Housing 

and Urban Development (HUD), the Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA), and representatives from the Airports Council International (ACI), 

Airlines for America (A4A), the Cargo Airline Association (CAA), and 

academic experts for review and comment. We invited airport and 

regional stakeholders to comment on the portions of this report draft that 

pertained to them. FAA, HUD, and EPA provided technical comments on 

the various programs under their purview that we incorporated as 

appropriate. ACI, A4A, CAA, and the academic experts, generally, 

agreed with the approach and information in the draft. One expert 

indicated that an evaluative approach would have been more useful for 

policymakers. Some stakeholders provided technical information that we 

incorporated as appropriate.

We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Transportation, 

the appropriate congressional committees, and others. In addition, the 

report is available at no charge on the GAO website at 

http://www.gao.gov. 

Agency Comments
 

Page 34 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

If you or your staff members have any questions about this report, please 

contact me at (202) 512-2834 or dillinghamg@gao.gov. Contact points for 

our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found 

on the last page of this report. GAO staff who made major contributions to 

this report are listed in appendix V.

Gerald Dillingham

Director, Physical Infrastructure
 

Page 35 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

List of Requesters

The Honorable Bill Shuster

Chairman

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

House of Representatives

The Honorable Frank A. LoBiondo

Chairman

The Honorable Rick Larsen

Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Aviation

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

House of Representatives

The Honorable Steve Cohen

House of Representatives

The Honorable John D. Dingell

House of Representatives

The Honorable Eddie Bernice Johnson

House of Representatives

The Honorable Henry C. “Hank” Johnson

House of Representatives

The Honorable Candice S. Miller

House of Representatives

The Honorable Gwen Moore

House of Representatives

The Honorable John L. Mica

House of Representatives

The Honorable Thomas E. Petri

House of Representatives
Appendix I: Examples of International AirportCentric Development

Page 36 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Airport-centric development is occurring in many countries of the world, 

including the U.S. According to Kasarda, for example, Asia is second to 

North America (21 versus 40) in the number of airport-centric 

developments; Europe has 20 airport-centric developments. Globally1

Table 3: Global Airport Cities and Aerotropolises

, 

Kasarda identified 35 airport cities and 56 aerotropolises (see table 3). 

Some countries with developing economies, including China, India, South 

Korea, and the UAE, are building new airports in conjunction with planned 

cities on the airport property, called “airport cities,” and beyond airport 

property (“aerotropolises”) to provide services for travelers and shippers. 

Developing Operational

Airport City Africa (0)

Asia/Pacific (1)

Europe (6)

Middle East (2)

North America (10)

South America (0)

Total: 19

Africa (1)

Asia/Pacific (1)

Europe (5)

Middle East (0)

North America (7) 

South America (0)

Total: 14

Aerotropolis Africa (4)

Asia/Pacific (12)

Europe (1)

Middle East (1)

North America (13)

South America (1)

Total: 32

Africa (0)

Asia/Pacific (7)

Europe (5)

Middle East (1)

North America (10)

South America (1)

Total: 24

Source: GAO analysis of John Kasarda data.

 

1 Chaudhuri, Sumana, “Impact of Privatization on Performance of Airport Infrastructure 

Projects in India: A Preliminary Study.” International Journal of Aviation Management, 

vol.1, no.1&2 (2011): 40-57. Yeung, J.H.Y., Waiman Cheung, Michael Ka-Yiu Fung, 

Xiande Zhao, and Min Zhang, “The Air Cargo and Express Industry in Hong Kong: 

Economic Contribution and Competitiveness.” International Journal of Shipping and 

Transport Logistics, vol. 2, no.3 (2010): 299-321. Ishutkina, M.A. and R. John Hansman, 

“Analysis of Interaction between Air Transportation and Economic Activity (Cambridge, 

MA: International Center for Air Transportation, MIT, 2011).

Appendix I: Examples of International 

Airport-Centric Development
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 37 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 4: Alliance Global Logistics Hub Airport (AFW), Ft. Worth Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

Alliance Global Logistics Hub, in Fort Worth, Texas, is a 17,000-acre master planned industrial airport, with two runways ranging in 

length from about 8,220 to 9,600 feet. In 2011, Fort Worth Alliance Airport was the 25th busiest air cargo airport in the U.S. with 

898,583,721 pounds of cargo landed, representing a 28.20 percent increase in pounds of cargo landed from 2010. Alliance leverages 

its proximity to DFW to market the air connectivity to many major cities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

According to an official at Alliance Airport, the airport hosts one of the largest foreign trade zones in the country and is an economic 

engine for the region, bringing nearly $7 billion in private investments and more than $400 million in public investments to the region. 

The airport serves 290 corporate residents (including 50 among Fortune 500, Global 500, or Forbes’ Top List of Private Firms), and 

employing more than 30,000 employees. Industry clusters have formed at Alliance, including automotive; aerospace and aviation; 

logistics; electronics; pharmaceutical and health care; and, consumer goods and services. 

Regional Characteristics

With approximately 6.4 million people in the Dallas/Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan statistical area, the region is fast-growing and 

contains one of the largest markets in the U.S.

According to an official at the airport, BNSF Railway constructed a 735 acre, $115 million intermodal facility at Alliance Airport. This is 

in addition to other modal infrastructure identified by the official, including BNSF & Union Pacific (UP) Class I Rail Lines, Interstate 

Highway 35W, State Highways 114 and 170, a FedEx Sort Hub, and U.S. Customs & Border Protection clearance and security. The 

airport official said that surface transportation is critical to the success of the airport, as it provides access to markets and also 

provides airport customers with easy access to the airport. FedEx is beginning to use rail, in addition to air and highway modes of 

transport, making Alliance’s intermodal ground connectivity of interest to FedEx and to manufacturing companies.

Unique Opportunities and Challenges

According to a senior representative from Alliance Texas, stakeholder coordination among private stakeholders, like the Perot family, 

and the City of Fort Worth was critical to the formation of the Alliance Airport. The airport’s early objective was to attract as many 

cargo flights as possible to raise revenues through landing fees. A notable gain for Alliance was when FedEx established a Southwest 

U.S. hub at Alliance.

The representative from Alliance Texas also said that Deloitte established Deloitte University Leadership Center at Alliance, a more 

than 700,000 square feet, $300 million corporate training center with nearly 500 on-site employees and more than 42,000 visiting 

employees annually. Population growth in the region was accompanied by new development, including medical facilities, luxury 

apartments, a county college and training center, and a high school that will have an aerospace and logistics academy to train 

potential workers at Alliance.

Tarrant County College includes a corporate training center at Alliance Texas which offers certified logistics associate and technician 

programs, and customized training for computer, communication, leadership and technical areas. Alliance also hosts annual hiring 

fairs to match and refer qualified candidates with employment opportunities.

According to an executive official from Alliance, I-35 is not wide enough to accommodate the employees, trucks and residents for the 

Alliance Airport area and will hinder development in the area, if not widened.

Source: GAO. 

Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 38 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 5: Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Baltimore-Washington Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

BWI occupies an approximately 3,600-acre site with four runways ranging in length from 5,000 to about 10,500 feet. Located 

approximately 10 miles south of downtown Baltimore and approximately 27 miles north of Washington, D,C., the airport is owned and 

operated by the State of Maryland. As of February 2013, The airport offered direct air passenger services to destinations in the U.S. 

and 6 international destinations in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and the United Kingdom. In 2011, the airport was the 22nd busiest 

passenger airport in the U.S. with 11,067,319 passengers enplaned, representing a 2.02 percent increase in passenger enplanements 

from 2010. Also in 2011, the airport was the 43rd busiest air cargo airport in the U.S. with 484,628,795 pounds of cargo landed, 

representing a 2.84 percent increase in pounds of cargo landed from 2010. The airport operators have focused on modifying the

terminalsa

Regional Characteristics

to prepare for the merger of Southwest and AirTran Airlines.

In 2010, the Baltimore-Towson combined metropolitan statistical area contained approximately 2.7 million residents. The airport is 

considered an economic engine for the state. Also, a representative from the BWI Business Partnership and a developer in the region 

said that Anne Arundel Mills shopping mall; the Baltimore Washington Medical Center and Fort Meade have contributed to growth in 

the region and may help to support the airport-centric development.

BWI is connected in the region by major highway routes and public transit systems, including bus and rail systems and is about 10 

miles from the Port of Baltimore. A representative from the BWI Business Partnership said that the Partnershipb

Unique Opportunities and Challenges

has brought 

stakeholders together in support of business development and efficient transportation solutions to relieve congestion and facilitate 

movement of goods and people throughout the airport region. A county economic development specialist expressed support for 

development at and around BWI and has approved mixed-use zoning favorable to development. 

BWI officials said that there is not much developable land available inside the airport fence, requiring airport operators to re-evaluate 

the best use of land over time and retrofit existing airport configurations, as needed. A developer would like to build a water park 

resort near the airport but said they are limited in what they can build due to limited capacity of wastewater treatment facilities.

County officials have targeted the BWI Airport Business District and vicinity as a primary growth area for future economic 

development. According to a representative from the BWI Business Partnership, a recent shift of federal, military and contractor jobs 

to the region around Fort Meade has resulted in passenger and cargo traffic growth, causing this representative concern that 

transportation and utilities infrastructure would need to grow alongside regional development. 

Source: GAO. 

a

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/print-edition/2011/08/12/bwi-airport-awarded-10-million.html

According to a regional business journal, the Maryland Board of Public Works approved and 

awarded a $10 million design contract to design a new connection between two of the airport’s 

terminals. Airport officials said that the expansion , which will allow passengers to pass through 

security checkpoints to access shops and restaurants at the airport’s A, B, and C terminals without 

passing through any further checkpoints, is expected to cost about $100 million to complete. 

(Sernovitz, Daniel J., “BWI Airport awarded $10 million for terminal expansion,” Baltimore Business 

Journal, Baltimore, MD: April 12, 2011), accessed November 14, 2011, 

.). 

b

According to the BWI Business Partnership website, the Partnership is a business development and 

transportation advocacy organization with nearly 175 business and government agency members 

representing local and regional businesses, and local, state and federal government agencies.
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 39 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 6: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Dallas Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

The Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) occupies 17,207-acre site with seven runways ranging in length from 8,500 to about 

13,400 feet. Located about 20 miles northwest of downtown Dallas, the airport is owned by the Cities of Dallas and Fort Worth (“owner 

cities”). Airport operators said that DFW offers direct air passenger services to destinations in North and South America, Africa and 

the Middle East, Australia, Asia, and Europe. They also said that they are seeking to establish new routes to major trade corridors, 

including Australia, Taiwan, Dubai, China, and Korea, and would like to serve as a hub between Asia and Latin America.

In 2011, the airport was the 4th busiest passenger airport in the U.S. with 27,518,358 passengers enplaned; representing a 1.54 

percent increase in passenger enplanements from 2010. Also in 2011, the airport was the 9th busiest air cargo airport in the U.S. with 

3,064,264,844 pounds of cargo landed, representing a 1.08 percent increase in pounds of cargo landed from 2010.

Airport officials aim to identify, attract and foster the growth of businesses or industries that rely on air services by providing additional 

needed infrastructure. For example, operations and planning staff at DFW said that they built a $1 million fumigation facility on the 

airport’s property to increase the importation and distribution of flowers. The Airport officials also manage a foreign trade zone on the 

airport property and have developed pharmaceutical, aerospace electronics, professional services and logistics facilities on the 

airport’s property. The airport’s commercial development group has developed a land use plan which consists of 13 distinct 

development areas, totaling over 6,000 acres with over 1,200 acres currently leased to 150 unique tenants for industrial, office, hotel, 

commercial and tourism uses. A developer said that commercially-minded airport leadership is an important consideration by 

developers.

DFW officials said their land use plan is expected to take about 25 years to be fully realized. Furthermore, they cautioned that airportcentered economic development requires a long time to see plans become fully realized. As it is, the International Commerce Park 

industrial park at the airport has taken 12 years to be fully built and occupied.

Regional Characteristics

In 2010, the Dallas/Fort Worth-Arlington combined metropolitan statistical area contained approximately 6.4 million residents. 

According to an airport official, DFW sits within part of Fort Worth and within the borders of the suburban cities of Irving, Grapevine, 

Euless, Coppell, but the airport is owned jointly by the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. DFW officials said that they negotiated tax 

sharing arrangements with the municipalities Euless, Irving, and Coppell, whereby those cities retain one-third of the property tax 

revenue generated by development on airport-owned property within their city limits. The other two-thirds of property tax goes to the 

owner cities. This arrangement has led to support for airport development from the owner cities, which might otherwise be viewed as 

competing with development within their own city limits.

According to DFW officials, the airport is governed by a board of directors with representatives from the owner cities and airport 

officials coordinate with the board, the owner cities, and surrounding cities when planning for development. DFW officials also 

communicate with local government officials to discuss compatible land uses for land at and near the airport and to develop 

compatible uses inside and outside the airport fence, and they said that they are able to attract more investors by showing 

commitment among a diverse group of stakeholders and multiple levels of government.

DFW officials said that access to highways and rail is important to successful development at DFW, and to increase the region that is 

connected to the airport within an hour travel time. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) received $5 million in federal funding through 

DOT’s TIGER program. The funds will be used toward a $429.5 million project to complete the final segment of a 14.5-mile light rail 

link from downtown Dallas to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), including the Belt Line Station which opened December 3,

2012 and a new station at DFW Terminal A which is under construction and slated to open near the end of 2014. DFW officials said 

that the Orange Line runs from downtown Dallas through Irving, past the convention center and to the airport; TexRail on the Cotton 

Belt Line will run from Fort Worth through the community of Grapevine to the airport; and, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority is

building a light rail line to DFW, while a commuter rail line from Fort Worth is also being constructed. The North Central Texas Council 

of Governments (NCTCOG) transportation plan-Mobility 2035-addresses multimodal mobility needs of people and goods through the 

growing Dallas/Fort Worth region and recognizes DFW as a key regional freight transportation facility necessary to connect the North

Central Texas region to national and global markets. The plan also supports clear access to the airports in the region and compatible 

land use planning.
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 40 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

According to officials from the City of Irving, some of the industries that are targeted in the region include health care, manufacturing 

and logistics, in addition to professional occupations that can fill up existing office space. These types of industries include financial 

institutions, insurance companies and technology firms with complementary business models to accompany existing offices of 

Microsoft, Fluor and Citibank, and other national and international companies. The City of Irving officials describe North Texas as 

“business-friendly” with regard to development approval processes, and airport officials cited the region’s low corporate taxes and low 

cost of living, in addition to the global connectivity the airport provides.

Unique Opportunities and Challenges

Airport officials said that they support the Regional Center and the EB-5 Investment Visa Program-an immigrant visa category that 

allows foreign entrepreneurs and investors to obtain lawful permanent resident status in the United States for himself/herself, a 

spouse and unmarried children under age 21, in return for making a qualified investment in a U.S. enterprise.

According to airport officials, they view the proposed merger of American Airlines and US Airways, making DFW Airport home to the 

largest airline in the world, as potentially providing many future opportunities for growth and development. The officials expect the 

merger to create an additional employment base, connectivity, and increased global visibility. Airport officials also said that U.S. 

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) staffing can be insufficient at peak demand periods,

Source: GAO. 
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 41 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 7: Denver International Airport (DEN), Denver Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

The Denver International Airport (DEN) occupies a 34,000-acre (53 square-miles) site with six runways ranging in length from 12,000 

to 16,000 feet. Located approximately 24 miles northeast of downtown Denver, the airport is owned and operated by the City and 

County of Denver.

In 2011, the airport was the 5th busiest passenger airport in the U.S. with 25,667,499 passengers enplaned; representing a 1.69 

percent increase in passenger enplanements from 2010. Also in 2011, the airport was the 21st busiest air cargo airport in the U.S. 

with 1,209,106,208 pounds of cargo landed, representing a 2.31 percent decrease in pounds of cargo landed from 2010. Airport 

officials have said that they are actively trying to attract greater numbers of airlines and passengers, in general, by generating nonaeronautical revenue to offset costs to airlines and passengers.

Regional Characteristics

In 2010, the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield metropolitan statistical area contained approximately 2.5 million residents. The airport is 

connected to downtown Denver by road, and a commuter rail line will be installed to link the airport and downtown Denver.

According to a representative of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (MDEDC) – Denver’s development 

organization with representatives from the airport, financial institutions, airlines, and the industry sector – the MDEDC is generally 

supportive of the Denver International Airport airport-centered development plans. The MDEDC representative highlighted several 

“selling points” of the Denver area, including low sales tax, a highly skilled workforce, an entrepreneurial environment, quality of life, 

and available land with development potential for future expansion of the airport and associated businesses. The MDEDC 

representative said that the MDEDC tracks industry data on things such as employment and investment and focuses on attracting and 

developing 8 core industries, including specialized suppliers in aviation, aerospace, bioscience, and renewable energy.

Unique Opportunities and Challenges 

According to an airport official, the airport has potential to spur regional development and stakeholders in the region see the airport as 

the biggest development driver in the state. The Mayor of Denver delivered the keynote address and announced the Airport City plan 

in April 2012 when Denver hosted the Airport Cities conference. The plan identifies unique markets to be developed at or near the 

airport, including mixed use commercial development, logistics, aerospace and military operations, renewable energy, biosciences, 

and other tech industries, food processing, cold storage, agriculture, and warehouse space.

Airport representatives said that although FedEx and UPS operate at the airport, DEN is currently not a big cargo airport. They said 

they do, however, expect cargo to grow.

A representative from the MDEDC said that DEN was designed for future development but the weak economy has slowed the 

expected development. The Auditor of the City and County of Denver issued a report that cautioned that insufficient financial 

resources could inhibit the Denver Airport City plans and that development at and around the airport would require a significant 

financial investment.

Source: GAO. 
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 42 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 8: Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), Detroit Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

The Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA) manages and operates an airport system comprised of Detroit Metropolitan Wayne 

County Airport (DTW) and Willow Run Airport (YIP) – both located within 25 miles of Detroit. DTW occupies 6,700 acres with six 

runways ranging in length from 8,500 to about 12,000 feet, and YIP occupies 2,600 acres with 4 runways. According to the Executive 

Director of the Aerotropolis Development Corporation (ADC), the airport system offers direct air passenger and cargo services to 

destinations in North and South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and Asia.

In 2011, the airport was the 17th busiest passenger airport in the U.S. with 15,716,865 passengers enplaned; representing a 0.47 

percent increase in passenger enplanements from 2010. Also in 2011, the airport was the 38th busiest air cargo airport in the U.S. 

with 602,804,150 pounds of cargo landed, representing a 9.16 percent increase in pounds of cargo landed from 2010. Additionally 

Willow Run handles approximately 200 million lbs. of cargo annually making it one of the nation’s largest airports for landed air freight 

flown by exclusively cargo aircraft.

“Commercial and Economic Development” is part of the airport Master Plan Vision, Goals, and Objectives. Specifically, the Master 

Plan calls for identification of commercial and business development opportunities consistent with land use planning and development 

objectives of local governments to advance the economic interest of the airport and the region. The Southeast Michigan Council of 

Governments (the region’s Metropolitan Planning Organization) views the airport as a regional asset to be built upon, and views the 

region’s transportation system as “vital to economic development.

Regional Characteristics

In 2010, the Detroit-Warren-Livonia metropolitan statistical area contained approximately 4.3 million residents. According to a county 

economic development official, the region is a global hub for the manufacturing and engineering research and development (R&D) 

sectors.

The “Air Trade Area” (the geographical area served by the airport) is among the global leaders in the automotive industry, due to the 

large number of R&D facilities throughout the region, and is home to 13 Fortune 500 companies-eight of which are part of the 

automotive industry. The Executive Director of the ADC said that Visteon Corporation, a global automotive supplier that designs, 

engineers and manufactures climate control, electronic, and interior products for vehicle manufacturers, developed the Grace Lake 

Corporate Center campus on 260 acres between the airports and consolidated 22 offices in SE Michigan. The ADC representative 

also said that GE developed its Advanced Manufacturing and Software Technology Center (AMSTC) on the campus in 2010 to work 

on disruptive manufacturing technologies.

The Executive Director of the ADC and the Chief Economic Development Officer for Wayne County said that the region around DTW 

is “infrastructure ready” with connectivity among four modes of transport (waterways, highway, rail and air). WCAA and ADC partners 

are leveraging DTW and YIP to increase airport connectivity by linking the airport cargo movement to the development of supply chain 

and logistics industry investments throughout the 60,000 acre district around the airports as well as the greater Southeast Michigan 

region. According to a Wayne County official, Detroit is well positioned to serve as a major trading point with Canada-the US’s largest 

trade partner.

Unique Opportunities and Challenges

According to the Executive Director of the ADC, the local government representatives and the airport authority executed an interlocal

agreement creating the ADC in 2009. According to the ADC representative, principal funding for the ADC comes from 7 local 

communities and 2 counties, the State’s largest private, non-profit business association, and DTE Energy. The ADC representative 

also said that the ADC can move quickly to assist in expediting permits, establish tax-free and tax increment financing districts, issue 

tax abatements and support talent recruitment and training efforts and may award up to 10 renaissance zones for eligible businesses. 

According to the Executive Director of the ADC, regional stakeholders view the collaborative approach between the airport authority 

and surrounding communities as a way of sharing the financial burden of the airport-centered development initiative. 

Source: GAO. 
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 43 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 9: General Mitchell International Airport (MKE), Milwaukee Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

According to the Airport Director, the General Mitchell International Airport (MKE) occupies an approximately 2,200-acre site with five 

runways ranging in length from about 4,180 feet to 9,990 feet. Located 5 miles south of Milwaukee, MKE is owned by Milwaukee 

County and offers direct air services to about 40 locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. In 2011, the airport was 

the 35th busiest passenger airport in the U.S. with 4,671,976 passengers enplaned, representing a 1.85 percent decrease in 

passenger enplanements from 2010. Also in 2011, the airport was the 42nd busiest air cargo airport in the U.S. with 490,424,335 

pounds of cargo landed, representing a 0.96 percent decrease in pounds of cargo landed from 2010.

Regional Characteristics

In 2010, the Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis metropolitan statistical area contained approximately 1.6 million residents.

According to the Airport Director, there is little cargo that transfers between railroads and airports or between and air and sea or lake 

ports. However, he said that trucks are important for moving air cargo goods in and out of the airport area. Officials representing the 

Airport Gateway Business Association (AGBA) said that multiple modes of transportation in the Milwaukee region can be used in an 

integrated manner. For example, the Milwaukee region has attracted Caterpillar, manufacturers of large pieces of mining equipment 

that undergo “final assembly” in another country. The AGBA official explained that equipment is sent on trucks or rail to ships at the 

port and on to mine sites around the world where the final equipment is assembled. However, if a problem results during final 

assembly, a human consultant or a small part can be sent by air.

Unique Opportunities and Challenges

The AGBA officials said that the AGBA formed a Business Improvement District (BID) along the west side of MKE, yielding a real 

estate tax reduction to 320 commercial properties, equivalent to about $335,000 in tax benefits to be used for beautification and 

marketing purposes. The AGBA officials also explained that the BID used $15,000 in 2009 to start the Aerotropolis Corporation, a 

nonprofit partnership comprised of MKE airport representatives, public and private sector representatives from the eight municipalities 

around the airport, county government, the State Departments of Transportation and Natural Resources, the Economic Development 

Corporation, and the Housing and Economic Development Authority. The Airport Director said that he has a limited role in the airportcentric development efforts outside of the airport fence.

The Airport Director said that most of the airport land is being used for airport operations with very little land available for nonaeronautical purposes. He also said that land around the Milwaukee airport is largely already developed, so new development would 

likely result from repurposing existing development.

According to the airport Director, MKE had 2 years of unusual growth because of competition between three low-cost carriers that 

serviced the airport. The officials said that growth came to an abrupt halt because there wasn’t sufficient passenger demand to 

support the flights. The Airport Director explained that one of the airlines is moving its hub in response to increased demand at its new 

hub airport and the remaining two airlines plan to merge, resulting in less competition at the airport.

AGBA officials said that the City of Milwaukee has designated a foreign trade zone near the airport and would like to develop a 

shopping district outside of the airport. AGBA officials said that the Aerotropolis Commission would like to attract businesses that rely 

on time-sensitive deliveries or consulting companies with employees who frequently fly, for example, representatives said that 

RedPrarie in West Milwaukee does business in 50 countries.

Source: GAO. 
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 44 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 10: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) occupies a 4,700-acre site with five runways ranging in length from about 

9,000 to 11,889 feet. Located 10 miles south of downtown Atlanta, the airport is owned and operated by the City of Atlanta. According 

to airport officials, Delta’s hub at ATL provides connections to 156 domestic cities and 72 international cities. In 2011, the airport was 

the (1st) busiest passenger airport in the U.S. with 44,414,121 passengers enplaned; representing a 2.98 percent increase in 

passenger enplanements from 2010. Also in 2011, the airport was the 13th busiest air cargo airport in the U.S. with 2,655,614,700 

pounds of cargo landed, representing a 1.05 percent increase in pounds of cargo landed from 2010.

According to airport officials, the airport has been successful due to its central geographic location – within a 2-hour flight of 80 

percent of the U.S. population - and its ability to handle large amounts of air cargo, with nine out of the top ten cargo operations 

serving ATL. ATL’s North and South terminals house about 1.1 million square feet of cargo space, which is rented to UPS, FedEx, 

and other freighter airlines. 

Regional Characteristics

In 2010, the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta metropolitan statistical area contained approximately 5.3 million residents.

A representative from the EPA said that there may be potential to reuse facilities freed up by Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 

activities. For example, two facilities in close proximity to the Atlanta Airport offer a total of nearly 1,700 acres with passenger and 

freight rail connectivity and may be zoned for industrial use. 

Unique Opportunities and Challenges

The airport officials said that the airport created regional benefits in terms of jobs and dollars and they expect further regional 

developments to benefit the airport, but there is little airport-owned land left for potential development on airport property. There is 

some speculation by the airport officials that the opening of the Panama Canal will bring more cargo to the Port of Savannah and may 

bring extra traffic to the airport, though the potential impact is unknown.

A private developer said he values proximity to the airport to attract investors or businesses to their mixed-use property east of the 

airport. The developer sees the relocation of a high-end automobile retailer in Hapeville as the “anchor business” for the 

redevelopment, but also hopes to attract retail, hotels, parking corporate offices, and possibly medical services. He believes that 

development east of the airport will be financially viable because of the easy access to the international airport terminal servicing 

worldwide destinations. The developer believes that the reason airport-centric development hasn’t occurred around the airport in the 

past was because it would have been difficult to coordinate, requiring 15 municipalities to coordinate zoning policies. The developer 

also said that the sheer number of agencies involved with permitting was a challenge. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 

the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and other federal and State agencies have been involved, requiring an ombudsman to 

mediate between the developer and the various government agencies. 

Source: GAO. 
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 45 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 11: Indianapolis International Airport (IND), Indianapolis Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

The Indianapolis International Airport (IND) occupies an approximately 7,700-acre site with three runways ranging in length from 

7,280 to 11,200 feet. Located approximately 7 miles southwest of Indianapolis, the airport is owned and operated by the Indianapolis 

Airport Authority, a municipal corporation. As of the second quarter of 2012, the airport offered direct air passenger services to 33 

destinations, on average, in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. In 2011, the airport was the 50nd busiest passenger airport in the U.S. with 

3,670,396 passengers enplaned, representing a 1.56 percent decrease in passenger enplanements from 2010. Also in 2011, the 

airport was the 5th busiest air cargo airport in the U.S. with 4,813,314,835 pounds of cargo landed, representing a 2.04 percent 

increase in pounds of cargo landed from 2010.

Regional Characteristics

In 2010, the Indianapolis-Carmel combined metropolitan statistical area contained approximately 1.8 million residents. The Executive 

Director of the Morgan County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) identified examples of industries in the region that 

produce high-value, low-volume goods or services, including cold chain logistics, life science and pharmaceutical firms (including the 

tenth largest pharmaceutical company in the world), services for cell phone and wireless devices, and an internet marketing firm. 

According to the MCEDC Executive Director, logistics operations have also begun to settle along I-70, west of the airport in Hendricks 

County. Additionally, the Airport Authority has partnered with Ivy Tech Community College to train a potential workforce in logistics.

The airport is connected to downtown Indianapolis via highway, and is about 10 miles from the CSX rail yard, location of a class-1 

freight railroad serving states east of the Mississippi River. Officials from the MCEDC said that the region would benefit by improving 

the public transit connections between downtown Indianapolis and the airport.

The Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development issued a study titled “Indianapolis Intermodal Freight System Plan,” which 

aimed to prepare an intermodal freight transportation strategy for the airport area and coordinate transportation improvements among 

agencies. Also, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization’s 2035 long-range transportation plan identified the airport area 

as one of the more prominent freight distribution regions in the country.

Unique Opportunities and Challenges

Officials at the Indianapolis Airport Authority have signed an interlocal cooperation agreement with nine municipal government entities 

representing communities near the Indianapolis International Airport to form the IND AeroVision Committee. Signatory committee 

members include the City of Indianapolis; the City-County Council of Indianapolis and Marion County; the towns of Plainfield, Avon, 

and Mooresville; the townships of Decatur and Wayne; the counties of Hendricks and Morgan; and the Indianapolis Airport Authority. 

The committee will focus on ways to enhance the benefits created by aviation-related development for the stakeholders in the region 

around the airport. According to airport officials, the committee may analyze and recommend projects such as:

• design and development principles, 

• streamlined or expedited permitting processes, 

• infrastructure development, and

• changes to boundaries or size of the Interlocal Geographic Area. 

Source: GAO. 
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 46 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 12: Lambert–St. Louis International Airport (STL), St. Louis Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

The Lambert—St. Louis International Airport (STL) is owned and operated by the City of St. Louis and is located 11 miles northwest of 

downtown St. Louis. The airport has four runways ranging in length from about 7,600 to about 11,000 feet and controls approximately 

3,970 acres of land, with 2,125 of those acres located outside of the airport fence. In 2011, the airport was the 31st busiest passenger 

airport in the U.S. with 6,159,090 passengers enplaned, representing a 1.89 percent increase in passenger enplanements from 2010.

Also in 2011, the airport was the 57th busiest air cargo airport in the U.S. with 384,332,870 pounds of cargo landed, representing a 

3.59 percent increase in pounds of cargo landed from 2010. The airport offers direct air passenger services to destinations in North 

America. 

Regional Characteristics

In 2010, the St. Louis-Illinois metropolitan statistical area contained approximately 2.8 million residents. According to airport officials, 

regional stakeholders have been promoting the region as friendly for five sectors-transportation, higher education, biotechnology, 

agro-technology and information technology (IT) and have been seeking to attract venture capitalists to invest in the region.

The airport is connected in the region by major highway routes, public bus systems and rail. Regional stakeholders talked about the 

geographic position of St. Louis in the center of the U.S. population, its connectivity to area surface transportation rail and highway 

networks, and its underutilized airport capacity-operating at 45% capacity with a brand new runway and space around the airport for 

development. They believe that the geographic advantage and connectivity to the 2nd and 3rd greatest number of rail connections in 

the country-at Kansas City and St. Louis-would help to make St Louis a good location for a distribution center.

According to airport officials, multimodal connectivity is a strength of the St Louis region, with the option to send freight by air, road, 

rail or river. The multimodal connections increase the size of the market that can be reached through the airport and increases the 

region from which goods or people can access the airport.

Unique Opportunities and Challenges

According to representatives of the Midwest China Hub Commission, the Commission formed to explore the potential to increase air 

freight between Midwestern U.S. and Chinese markets. The Commission members said that they view the 9-state area surrounding St 

Louis as the “catchment area” for potential import/export businesses. Members of the China Hub Commission estimated that about 

$5.7 million had been invested in the China Hub Commission over 4 years. That includes $4 million funded by the Economic 

Development Administration (EDA) of Commerce planning grant, matched by a $1.7 million local match from donations and state 

funding.

Airport officials said that they are interested in forming a Chinese cargo hub for two reasons: (1) to increase freight operations to 

expand and diversify the revenue base, and (2) to use the additional non-aeronautical revenue to reduce the landing fees and make 

the airport more competitive for domestic passenger services.

According to airport officials, it is difficult to enter a new market with frequent and full cargo operations in both directions. This is 

because trade routes need to be established and freight forwarders need to put cargo on those routes. Freight forwarders serve as 

“gatekeepers,” determining what route freight takes to get from its origin to its destination. That is, developing an air cargo hub 

requires airlines, cargo companies and freight forwarders to expand operations simultaneously. According to the STL Airport Director, 

a Chinese cargo hub would have been difficult to establish without offering incentives because the return flights to China would not 

have initially had sufficient cargo to make the trip economically viable, hence the proposed incentive program to help ensure sufficient 

return cargo could be generated.

Representatives from the Midwest China Hub Commission said that St Louis has a cluster of universities, some of which (Washington 

University; University of Missouri and Missouri State University) have programs in China, resulting in an increase in Chinese foreign 

exchange students attending universities in St Louis and Chinese business people looking for education opportunities for their 

children.

According to St. Louis County officials, the U.S. Department of Commerce has expanded the Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZa

Source: GAO. 

) at STL from 

11 acres to 820 acres in 2009 and later approved expansion of the FTZ to cover all of St. Louis City and County. According to a press 

release provided by the airport, this expansion of the FTZ is expected to also benefit local companies located in the FTZ as they 

expand into foreign markets. Airport officials hope that the county’s FTZ-designation will encourage manufacturing job growth. 

a

According to the Department of Commerce, FTZs are considered to be outside of U.S. Customs 

Territory for the purpose of customs duty payment. Therefore, goods entering FTZs are not subject to 
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 47 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

customs tariffs until the goods leave the zone and are formally entered into U.S. Customs Territory. 

Merchandise that is shipped to foreign countries from FTZs is exempt from duty payments. This 

provision is especially useful to firms that import components in order to manufacture finished 

products for export.

Table 13: Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Los Angeles Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

LAX occupies an approximately 3,673-acre site with four runways ranging in length from 8,925 to about 12,100 feet. Located 

approximately 9 miles southwest of Los Angeles, the airport is owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a 

proprietary department of the City of Los Angeles. LAX offers more than 600 daily flights to 91 domestic cities and more than 1,000 

weekly, direct flights to 58 cities in 32 countries on nearly 75 air carriers. In 2011, the airport was the 3rd busiest passenger airport in 

the U.S. with 30,528,737 passengers enplaned, representing a 5.79 percent increase in passenger enplanements from 2010.

In 2011, the airport was the 7th busiest air cargo airport in the U.S. with 4,043,122,100 pounds of cargo landed, representing a 2.23 

percent increase in pounds of cargo landed from 2010. According to the 2010 Los Angeles County Strategic Plan for Economic 

Development, the value of goods exported via LAX is almost as large as the value of goods exported through the Ports of Los 

Angeles and Long Beach-the two highest volume U.S. container seaports

LAWA is investing billions of dollars in a capital improvement program at LAX, paid for by LAX operating revenues, Capital 

Improvement Program funds, fees from passenger facilities charges, and airport revenue bonds. The centerpiece of the capital 

improvement program is LAX’s new Tom Bradley International Terminal, a $1.7 billion project which features 18 boarding gates, with 9 

capable of handling new generation aircraft, including the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and 140,000 square feet of 

retail, dining and airline club lounges.

Regional Characteristics

In 2010, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan statistical area contains approximately 12.8 million residents. LAX is 

accessible by highway, public buses, and shuttle buses connecting the airport to the metro-rail system. According to the regional 

transportation coordinator at the airport, LAWA has implemented a rideshare program, to relieve congestion and improve air quality 

while also encouraging employees to carpool or use public transit (bus). The transportation coordinator said that approximately 

twenty-seven percent of LAWA’s employees participate in the program, saving over 1,000 vehicle trips to LAWA airports every day. 

Voter-approved Measure R-a half-cent sales tax for transportation projects and programs in L.A. County-helped to raise funds for 

numerous transportation projects across the county. For example, $200 million in Measure R tax revenue will be used to connect LAX 

to the city’s Metro Green Line. An airport official at LAX expects that a metro-rail connection will help to relieve congestion on the 

highways and may increase the catchment area served by the airport. According to the California High Speed Rail Authority, high 

speed rail will connect Los Angeles to San Francisco, and later to Sacramento and San Diego.

The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) produced the county’s first strategic plan for economic 

development, which focuses on five components the LAEDC identified as central to economic development success: Educated 

Workforce, Business-Friendly Environment, Attractive Quality of Life, Smart Land Use, and 21st Century Infrastructure. The LAEDC 

considers LAX to be part of the region’s critical infrastructure, and also recognizes the region’s world class university and research 

and development (R&D) talent pool stemming from CalTech, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of 

Southern California, among other institutions of higher learning.

Unique Opportunities and Challenges

According to officials from LAWA and the LAEDC, there is very limited space for expansion at LAX. Community opposition to 

expansion of northern runway may limit the ability of the airport to safely land more than one A380 at a time. Furthermore, an official 

from the Southern California Association of Governments said that the airport is legally constrained regarding the time of day and 

noise level at which it can operate, according to the Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990.

Source: GAO. 
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 48 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 14: Memphis International Airport (MEM), Memphis Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

Memphis International Airport (MEM) occupies an approximately 5,000-acre site with four active runways ranging in length from about 

8,950 to 11,120 feet. Located approximately 7 miles southeast of downtown Memphis, the airport is owned and operated by the 

Memphis Shelby County Airport Authority. The airport offers direct air passenger services to locations in the U.S., Canada and the 

Netherlands, and according to FedEx, which operates its worldwide headquarters in Memphis, it offers direct cargo services to over 

220 countries and territories. In 2011, the airport was the 41st busiest passenger airport in the U.S. with 4,344,213 passengers 

enplaned, representing an 11.90 percent decrease in passenger enplanements from 2010. Also in 2011, the airport was the 1st 

busiest air cargo airport in the U.S. with 20,303,149,106 pounds of cargo landed, representing a 3.88 percent increase in pounds of 

cargo landed from 2010.

Regional Characteristics

In 2010, the Memphis, TN-MS-AR, combined metropolitan statistical area contained approximately 1.3 million residents.

According to the Vice President of Logistics & Aerotropolis Development at the Greater Memphis Chamber (of Commerce), the 

Chamber created the Aerotropolis Steering Committee, an organization comprised of public and private sector representatives 

dedicated to coordinating development in selected targeted development efforts in the area surrounding the Memphis International 

Airport. Representatives from the Chamber said that the Aerotropolis Steering Committee has formed work groups to address: 

Gateways and Beautification, Marketing and Branding, Corridor Development, and, Access and Transportation. The Chamber 

representatives also said that the Aerotropolis Steering Committee has also targeted areas for development—including access routes 

to the airport and Elvis Presley Boulevard (home to Graceland)-and these representatives said they would like to see the potential 

redevelopment of downtown Memphis, in an attempt to increase tourism and attract more passenger flights to the area.

According to the Greater Memphis Chamber, the steering committee markets the region’s central geographic location and its “Four 

Rs”-river, road, rail, and runway-which they believe provide access to markets. Highway access and local bus services connect the 

airport to downtown. 

Unique Opportunities and Challenges

The stated goals of Memphis’ Aerotropolis strategy are:

• Business attraction, retention and job creation

• Improve connections to airports from business parks, residential areas and downtown

• Infrastructure improvements and congestion mitigation

• Increase airport cargo and passenger activity

• Improve internal and external perceptions of Memphis as a place to live, work and do business

An official from the Greater Memphis Chamber said that a $1.2 million federal grant from the Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, matched with $900,000 in local funds and in-kind services, has helped the region create a development plan for the 

airport and the region around it. Officials also hope to expand upon existing logistics and life science/biotech industries located in the 

Memphis region because they believe these industries will provide high-paying jobs.

Source: GAO. 
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 49 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 15: Miami International Airport (MIA), Miami Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

The Miami International Airport (MIA) occupies a 3,230-acres site with four runways ranging from approximately 8,600 to 13,000 feet. 

Located 8 miles northwest of Miami, the airport is owned and operated by Miami-Dade County. In 2011, the airport was the 12th 

busiest passenger airport in the U.S. with 18,342,158 passengers enplaned, representing a 7.78 percent increase in passenger 

enplanements from 2010. Also in 2011, the airport was the 4th busiest air cargo airport in the U.S. with 6,634,448,852 pounds of

cargo landed, representing a 3.92 percent decrease in pounds of cargo landed from 2010.

MIA is the largest gateway for U.S. to Latin America and the Caribbean. According to airport officials, MIA leadership is focused on 

providing access to emerging economies, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. MIA officials also said they offer 

incentives to attract new domestic and international routes, for example, by waiving landing fees for the first year of operations, or by 

offering matching funds for an advertising fund to publicize “premium markets” in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Airport 

officials also said that the airport is the only U.S. airport with nonstop service from seven destinations in Brazil.

According to airport officials, MIA has more cold storage warehouses than the rest of the U.S. airports combined. This is necessary to 

support the significant amount of imported perishable items, including: approximately 80 percent of imported flowers, more than 50 

percent of imported seafood, and more than 75 percent of imported produce. Construction is underway for a new 895,000 square foot 

air cargo warehouse/office/hangar/ storage facility for the Centurion group of air cargo carriers. The new facility is to accommodate 8 

Boeing 747-400 wide-body freighters. This will add to the existing 17 cargo buildings with over 2.7 million square feet.

MIA’s $6.4 billion capital improvement program is nearly completed, including improvements to the terminals, roadways, cargo 

facilities, and the airfield. A new South Terminal has added 1.7 million square feet to the existing 3.5 million square feet of space. In 

addition, according to the airport’s website, the more than 3.8 million-square-foot North Terminal was nearing completion in early 

2013. The North Terminal is to house an international arrivals facility with a federal inspection area with 72 gates and the ability to 

serve 2,000 passengers per hour.

The Miami Intermodal Center (MIC), a $1.7 billion transportation hub will connect multiple modes of transport-buses, metro and 

commuter rail, private cars, rental cars, and taxis-at one site. AirportLink is a $506 million Miami-Dade Transit project to link the metrorail system and the MIC, connecting the airport to downtown Miami. The $270 million MIA Mover opened in 2011 with the capacity to 

transport more than 3,000 people per hour connecting the airport with the MIC. Funding for the MIC, the AirportLink and the MIA 

Mover was generated from a combination of sources including federal, state, local and other sources, such as customer facility 

charges and revenues from rent.

The 3.4 million square foot Rental Car Center, opened in 2010, consolidates the operations of 16 rental car companies, with a

combined inventory of 6,500 rental cars. 

Regional Characteristics

In 2010, the Miami -Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach combined metropolitan statistical area contains approximately 5.6 million 

residents. MIA officials cited a competitive advantage of the Miami region, in terms of infrastructure, language, and interpersonal 

relationships, such as 350 freight forwarders, bilingual English and Spanish residents, and established business relationships with 

providers in Latin America. The prevalence of Spanish and Portuguese speakers makes Miami a target economy for Latin American 

businesses. Similarly, an airport official said that business executives from Europe and Asia have moved to the Miami area, because 

they value Miami’s proximity to the emerging Latin American economies and view Miami as the “northernmost city of Latin America.” 

Airport officials credit the region’s climate for helping to assure reliable air services. Roadway improvements are being made to 

accommodate forecasted growth in the region around the airport. These include widening roads around the airport, including Central 

Boulevard and expansion of the 25th Street Viaduct to allow for easier access to cargo facilities at the airport. According to an airport 

official, about 10,000 trucks per day transport cargo from MIA to the federal highway system, helping to distribute nearly 70 percent of 

the perishable food and produce imported to the U.S.

Unique Opportunities and Challenges 

According to a senior airport official, one of the issues the airport faces is the limited availability of Customs and Border Protection 

(CBP) operations staff at the airport, which has lagged behind the growth of the airport and can be insufficient at peak flight times. An 

airport official said that American Airlines misses about 5,000 passenger connections each month because of insufficient CBP staffing 

levels to staff existing booths.
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 50 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

According to a senior official at the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, the airport is fiscally constrained for future expansion through 

bond issuance. The airport uses a “residual cost model,” meaning that airlines collectively agree to pay the costs of running the airport 

that are not allocated to other users or covered by all other sources of revenue. Because MIA is fiscally constrained, it is considering 

public-private partnerships as one viable approach to financing future projects. 

Source: GAO. 

Table 16: North Carolina Global TransPark (GTP), Kinston Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

The North Carolina Global TransPark (GTP), located in Kinston, about 75 miles southeast of Raleigh-Durham, in Eastern North 

Carolina, contains approximately 5,775 acres of land that has been environmentally permitted for development, a foreign trade zone, 

and a 2,500-acre industrial airport with an 11,500-foot long runway.

Regional Characteristics

The North Carolina Global TransPark Authority is a division of the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Its Board of Directors 

provides guidance for planning, business development, and real estate development activities of the TransPark. According to an 

official from the State of North Carolina Department of Transportation, the state conducts logistics studies and supports new business 

development and job development in the region. For example, a GTP official said that the North Carolina Department of Commerce 

offered performance-based incentives and can make property tax concessions in its land leases. The Department also has a “shovelready” program to prepare land for development by completing relevant permits ahead of time. According to state officials, this 

provides assurance to investors that their projects will not be held up by environmental reviews.

According to an official at the GTP, North Carolina State, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Duke University all 

generate a potential highly-educated workforce. Also, about 10,000 people exit the military in North Carolina each year, with many 

targeted for employment. The official also said that North Carolina has the country’s third-largest community college system and the 

state is considering ways to better integrate the its community college system to equip students with the skill bases that Spirit 

AeroSystems needs. The official also said that Spirit AeroSystems established a composites manufacturing “center of excellence” at 

GTP to design and manufacture airline fuselages and wings for the Airbus A350.

According to a representative from the North Carolina Department of Transportation, several infrastructure upgrades were provided to 

attract Spirit AeroSystems to expand operations at the GTP. For example, Spirit AeroSystems requested a number of infrastructure 

upgrades to help move goods and parts in and out of the GTP. GTP added a 7-mile rail access spur to connect GTP to the North 

Carolina railroad. GTP also built an airport apron to connect to the runway and made improvements to the internal road network at 

GTP. In addition to these infrastructure improvements, the North Carolina Department of Commerce offered Spirit AeroSystems a Job 

Development Incentive Grant, with an expectation that Spirit AeroSystems will employ more than 1,000 workers by 2014.

Unique Opportunities and Challenges

An official at the GTP said that there was a significant change in the “economic backdrop” of the region from 1991, when the state 

Department of Transportation announced the funding availability, to 2002, when the airport at GTP was completed and operational. 

Specifically, much of the labor-intense manufacturing for which the GTP had been developed had moved offshore, resulting in 

significantly less demand for the GTP and its associated air services than had first been anticipated. GTP is interested in attracting 

industries dependent on aviation services and has targeted logistics industries and employment clusters that rely on just-in-time air 

cargo services, such as the aerospace and aviation industries, the agri-business sector, or defense and federal contracting agencies 

that complement military operations in North Carolina.

An official from the North Carolina Department of Transportation said that the GTP would like to promote opportunities for local 

businesses in the state’s 3 leading areas: tourism, the military, and agriculture, for example, by exploring opportunities to supply Asia 

with crops like strawberries and blueberries flown in overnight shipments. However, there are currently no cold storage warehouses or 

the funds to build them at this time. The official also said that disposable medical equipment and military equipment are other areas of 

potential opportunity. As of February 2013, the GTP attracted 13 tenants.

Source: GAO. 
Appendix II: Profiles of U.S. Airport Regions

Page 51 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 17: Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Washington, DC Regional Profile

Airport Characteristics

Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) occupies a12,000-acre site with four runways ranging in length from 9,400 feet to 

11,500 feet. Located approximately 20 miles west Washington DC, IAD is owned and operated by the Metropolitan Washington 

Airports Authority and offers direct air services to more than 40 destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, South 

America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The Airport Manager at Dulles views the airport’s international connections as its 

strength when compared against other airports in the region. In 2011, the airport was the 23rd busiest passenger airport in the U.S. 

with 11,044,383 passengers enplaned, representing a 2.06 percent decrease in passenger enplanements from 2010. Also in 2011, 

the airport was the 45th busiest air cargo airport in the U.S. with 446,608,904 pounds of cargo landed, representing a 0.82 percent 

decrease in pounds of cargo landed from 2010.

According to the airport manager, officials at the airport are considering new airport land uses to generate non-aeronautical revenue 

sources to help pay for the airport’s capital improvement projects. The Airport Manager serves on the neighboring counties’ Chambers 

of Commerce and is careful not to compete with local businesses when deciding what projects to develop inside the fence.

Regional Characteristics

In 2010, the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria-DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan statistical area contained approximately 5.6 million 

residents. A representative from the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority said that the proximity to Washington DC and 

the Pentagon, and the area’s top-ranking schools are among the regional assets. The representative also said that Virginia has 

consistently been pro-businesses with supportive tax policies, zoning and permitting. According to the representative, there are about 

390 foreign-owned businesses in Fairfax County, and the Pentagon and Department of Defense employ many consultants in the area. 

Also, the representative said that primary market for the region between the airport and Washington, D.C., is office-type jobs, given its 

115 million square feet of office space and the region’s skilled and educated workforce. A representative of the Dulles Advisory 

Committee said that the Committee’s recent efforts have been focused on connecting to commercial areas along the planned transit 

corridor from Washington, DC, to the airport.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) is managing the construction of the Silver Line to connect the airport to 

Washington DC’s metro-rail system. The Airport Manager at Dulles views ground access to and from the airport as critical to provide 

fluid movement of people to and from the airport, and to increase area serviceable by the airport. This official said the metro-rail 

connection is expected to make it easier for passengers and airport employees to access the airport.

According to officials from the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) 

and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are studying two potential projects that would add surface connections to the airport 

in the future: (1) The Tri-County Parkway Location Study will evaluate a north/south transportation link through Fairfax, Loudoun, and 

Prince William Counties, in Northern Virginia, to connect Manassas with I-66 and the Loudoun County Parkway near IAD; and, (2) a 

proposal to construct a limited access roadway to the west of IAD in Loudoun County.

Unique Opportunities and Challenges

A representative from the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority said that regional coordination among the many 

stakeholders from Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia can be a challenge because the multiple jurisdictions involved tend 

to prioritize their geographic portion of the region without coordinating with other jurisdictions. However an official from the Fairfax 

County Department of Planning and Zoning said that informal working groups have formed with representation that includes 

neighboring communities to address issues of mutual concern, such as how to address roadway capacity concerns.

According to Fairfax County officials, the county is engaged in planning studies in the vicinity of IAD and the Access Road Corridor, to 

create transit-oriented development close to the future Silver Line Metrorail stations. They believe that new mixed use development, 

including residential and employment areas, may increase demand for passenger and cargo service at IAD.

The Airport Manager said that a mismatch between the low volume of cargo and the high passenger volumes can be challenging. 

There is not lot of manufacturing in the region around the airport, and thus, cargo operations are limited for Dulles, but the airport is 

within an hour drive for most of the region’s passengers in a region with many professional-consulting or other office jobs, making it a 

viable passenger airport.

Source: GAO.
Appendix III: Objective, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 52 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

This report describes the factors that our research and airport operators, 

government officials, developers, and other stakeholders identified as key 

considerations for airport-centric development. Specifically, this study 

describes the activities of stakeholders who are engaged airport-centric 

development and the motivations and beliefs of those stakeholders with 

respect to their efforts.

To determine the key characteristics of airport centric development, in the 

United States and internationally, we first conducted a bibliographic 

search of relevant articles and books cited in the following data-bases.

(See table 18.)

Table 18: Bibliographic Databases for Airport-Centric Development

Database Description

Transport Research International 

Documentation (TRID)

Combines records from the Transportation Research Board’s (TRIS) database and the 

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s International Transport Research 

Database (ITRD) database

ProQuest Scholarly and trade publications covering topics such as economics, transportation, politics and 

government, and engineering

NTIS Technical and other research reports produced by or with funds from the federal government

Social SciSearch International index of social, behavioral, and related sciences 

EconLit Scholarly material about economics and related disciplines

Academic OneFile Variety of scholarly and trade material on economics, transportation, education, politics and 

government, engineering, and other topics

Economic Development (ECO 

4334/INB 4334) 

Scholarly articles on management, economics, finance, accounting, marketing, international 

business, and technology

PapersFirst Papers presented at academic, professional conferences, symposiums, and workshops

Source: GAO. 

We supplemented the citations we obtained from this search with those

from the bibliographies of other studies we had obtained, and 

recommendations from experts we interviewed. After screening the 

abstracts of these studies for relevance, we collected information from 

these studies for further analysis. To supplement the information obtained 

from our literature review, we spoke with federal officials at the 

Department of Transportation and its Federal Aviation Administration; the 

Economic Development and International Trade Administrations within 

the Department of Commerce; and the Environmental Protection Agency.

We also spoke with experts in transportation, trade, logistics, and 

community development about airport-centric development issues.

Appendix III: Objective, Scope, and 

Methodology 
Appendix III: Objective, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 53 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

To obtain information about airport-centric activities, we selected a 

purposeful sample of airports based on the number of passengers and 

amount of cargo served; expert recommendations; and geographical 

representation. This selection procedure yielded of the following 12 

scheduled airline and 2 industrial airports for closer study (see fig. 7).

Figure 7: Purposive Sample of Airports

From this purposeful sample of 14 airports, we selected 7 sites to visit to 

understand the activities and perceptions of stakeholders; we conducted 

telephone interviews with representative of and stakeholders involved 

with the other 7 airports. See table 19. 
Appendix III: Objective, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 54 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 19: Data Collection Method for Airport Purposive Sample

Airport Data Collection

Alliance Global Logistics Hub, TX Site visit a

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, GA Telephone

Baltimore/Washington International Airport, MD Site visit

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, TX Site visit

Denver International Airport, CO Telephone

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, MI Site visit

Dulles International Airport, VA Telephone

Indianapolis International Airport, IN Telephone

North Carolina Global TransPark in Kinston, NC Telephone a

Los Angeles International Airport, CA Site visit

Memphis International Airport, TN Site visit

Miami International Airport, FL Site visit

General Mitchell International Airport in 

Milwaukee, WI 

Telephone

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, MO Telephone

Source: GAO. 

a

To obtain a full range of relevant stakeholder perspectives on the airportcentric development efforts, we interviewed airport officials; executives 

from businesses located adjacent or near to airports; representatives of 

real estate development organizations; local and regional economic 

development specialists, and federal, state, and local government 

officials. We attempted to identify critics of airport-centric development in 

each airport region, but we were generally unable to identify critics.

Industrial airport. 

We conducted our interviews using a semi-structured approach that 

allowed our interviewees to respond to provide the information that was 

most relevant for their airport and region in each of several broad areas.

These areas included: challenges interviewees had experienced in their 

development efforts; ways they had or might address those challenges; 

the likely success of their development efforts; factors that might facilitate 

or hinder development; any lessons learned or advice the interviewees 

identified for others interested in such development efforts; their 

assessment of the impact of the considerations for their initiative; and 

illustrative examples of how their development efforts had proceeded.
Appendix III: Objective, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 55 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

This approach permitted stakeholders at each site to tailor information 

based on their own experiences, but does not allow for generalizations 

about how the considerations may impact on the progress of all airportcentric developments or whether such development should be considered 

at any given locality. To understand the level of development planned and 

efforts underway, we also reviewed available plans related to the airportcentric development efforts including project plans and airport master 

plans.

Based on our literature review and the interviews we conducted with 

experts, agency officials, and stakeholders, we identified the following 

factors considered by stakeholders at selected U.S. airports and regions 

when pursuing airport-centric development: 1) development at the 

airport, 2) air and surface connectivity, 3) funding sources for 

development, (4) development in the region, and (5) collaboration among 

stakeholders. In this report, we use these 5 factors to discuss how these 

considerations generally relate to airport-centric developments and 

provide our observations about how particular localities applied these 

considerations.

Throughout the report we use the indefinite quantifiers, “some”, “many”, 

and “most” to inform the reader of the approximate quantity of stakeholder 

or interviewee type within the regions where we interviewed that agreed 

with the particular statement or idea, without actually stating the specific 

number of those in agreement in each case. To determine when to use 

each indefinite quantifier, we split the total of each type of stakeholder 

group into thirds, so that “some” would refer to more than one but fewer 

than or equal to one-third of the group; “many” would refer to more than 

one-third but fewer than or equal to two-thirds of the group; and, “most” 

would refer to more than two-thirds of the group but not the full group. 

The corresponding numeric range of values for each stakeholder group 

can be found in the table below. For example, most of the airport 

representatives would refer to between 10 and 13 (of the total 14).
Appendix III: Objective, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 56 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Table 20: Numeric Range of Values for Indefinite Quantifiers

Airport 

stakeholders

Business/ 

private sector 

stakeholders

Regional/ 

local 

government 

stakeholders

Regional 

stakeholders 

(airport + business 

+ regional)

Federal 

Government 

Agency 

representatives Experts 

One 1 1 1 1 1 1 

Some 2-4 2-4 2 2-11 2-3 2-6 

Many 5-9 5-8 3-4 12-22 4-6 7-12 

Most 10-13 9-12 5 23-32 7-9 13-17

All (total group size) 14 13 6 33 10 18

Source: GAO. 
Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

Page 57 GAO-13-261 Airport-Centric Development

Gerald L. Dillingham, Ph.D., (202) 512-2834, or dillinghamg@gao.gov

In addition to the contact named above, Maria Edelstein, Assistant 

Director; Amy Abramowitz; Leia Dickerson; John Healey; William King; 

Kirsten Lauber; and Richard Scott, Ph.D made key contributions to this 

report. 

Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments 

GAO Contact

Staff 

Acknowledgments 
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