From Crains:The two international airports in Queens rev up that borough's economy to almost rival Manhattan's, but further growth will require new infrastructure investments that remain uncertain at best.
LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports generated $42.4 billion in economic activity in 2012, according to a recent report from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, and directly employed 46,000 people, more than half of whom live in Queens. That translates to 9.5% of the borough's private-sector employment. Indirectly, the airports are responsible for about 300,000 jobs.
With passenger traffic growing, the air transportation sector is a key component of the borough's recovery from the recession, the comptroller notes. Unemployment fell to 8% in October, higher than Manhattan and Staten Island, but beating out Brooklyn and the Bronx, while private-sector jobs climbed to 486,000. The borough's average salary of $44,350 is second only to Manhattan's.
"There is a capacity problem at JFK — you have more airplanes trying to land at the peak time than you have ability to handle them," said Joshua Schank, president and chief executive at the Eno Center for Transportation, a think tank. "That is the biggest constraint on growth, and new terminals don't really help it."
A recent Eno Center report projected that by 2030, JFK will be operating above its capacity the majority of each day. A separate report from the Regional Plan Association estimated that the region will lose out on $26 billion in annual economic activity by 2030 unless major changes are undertaken at all three Port Authority facilities.
The Regional Plan Association argues that a new JFK runway would be the best way to address the issue — no small task. The updated navigation systems being slowly implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration would also help, according to Mr. Schank, but all of these ideas would need to be implemented by the public sector and, for now, are nowhere near takeoff.
9 comments:
Why not put a landing strip in FMCP?
How can they expand the airports, and with what money?
Expand those airports and let's have more low flying jets over northeast Queens at 6 AM on Sunday mornings and after 11 at night.
Dontcha love the screaming whine of airborne progress?
Perhaps we could stop allowing so many people back into the country!!!!!!
I like the idea of using FMCP for airport expansion.
Our park is theirs for the taking , like anything else
Perhaps we could stop allowing so many people back into the country!!!!!!
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Thats nice, but LGA, one of the most over crowded, is basically 95% domestic service, with the remaining international flights coming mostly from Canada.
And how are we going to get all these extra people from the airport to Manhattan where most passengers go? The Van Wyck and Belt pkwy are already gridlocked with traffic.
The only way an idea like that would work is to upgrade the highway infrastructure and its capacity to and from the airport, which seems unlikely in this bike obsessed city.
Put a brand new airport in Nassau County! Those country bumpkins nose up in the air folks need a wake up call at 6am!
So much for Virginia Joe telling UCCA that airport noise is being taken care of.
Like the 20 year struggle over the Astoria Park Dog Run (it has gotten no where - this is Astoria remember) those people next to the airport had better stop wasting people's time on this issue.
The airport is here to stay and only will get worse.
Accept it and move on....
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