Philadelphia International Airport has an economic impact on New Castle County that exceeds half a billion dollars.
A report from Philadelphia-based Econsult that was commissioned by the city-owned airport estimated that the facility accounts for more than 4,000 jobs in New Castle County. The jobs generated total earnings of $165 million.
A map contained in the report showed that the largest concentration of airport employment in New Castle County was below the Delaware Memorial Bridge in areas such as Bear and New Castle.
The economic impact for New Castle County was comparable to figures for Chester and Bucks counties in Pennsylvania.
The economic impact for Cecil County, MD was $77 million. Cecil had 610 jobs tied to the airport with a total payroll of $23 million.
Delaware County and Philadelphia counties accounted for $11 billion of the airport’s total economic impact of $15 billion. Portions of the airport are in the two counties. Total employment tied to the airport is 96,000.
The report noted that air service is a key factor in the economic performance of the region.
American Airlines, formerly US Airways operates a hub at the airport. Total traffic at the airport dropped slightly when American’s schedule was tweaked following the merger.
American continues to assure city officials that it will maintain the hub, which also has a large number of international flights
Philadelphia international Airport offers about 500 fights a day to 120 cities. Total passenger traffic totals about 30 million.
Deep discount carriers have entered the market, with Frontier and Spirit expanding at the airport. Frontier operated flights for a brief time from New Castle Airport in Delaware.
The discounters have helped to hold down fares to Atlanta and Florida destinations.
Longtime discount carrier Southwest reduced flights from Philadelphia but maintains a large presence at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. BWI draws passengers from Delaware in cases where schedules are more convenient or fares are lower.