International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology 7 (2018) 283–290

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Transportation

Science and Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijtst

Assessing air transport socio-economic footprint

Dimitriou Dimitrios ⇑, Sartzetaki Maria
Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Economics, Panepistimioupoli, Komotini 69100, Greece

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Air transportation and economic development interact with each other as aviation makes
Received 8 January 2018 significant direct and indirect contributions to the economy and increases the cycle of eco-
Received in revised form 30 April 2018 nomic activity. Conventional wisdom is to provide an effective tool to provide quantitative
Accepted 8 July 2018
estimations on the socioeconomic effects of air transport. This paper focuses on the estima-
Available online 17 July 2018
tion of the air transport footprint in terms of socioeconomic impacts in national economy.
The socioeconomic effects assessment concept and methodology are given, providing an
Keywords:
essential tool for planners, economists, analysts and researchers. The methodology concept
Air transport
Socioeconomic impact of aviation
and modelling approach provide essential benefits to support decisions on air transport
Input output analysis infrastructures investments prioritization, fund allocation and sustainable strategic plan-
Regional development ning. The goal is to provide an essential decision support tool for strategic decisions about
planning new air transport infrastructure, when resources are limited, in order to maxi-
mize the potential of social and economic development. The numerical application is
Greece, which is a very attractive summer holiday tourist destination in southeast
Mediterranean, suffering long time from economic stress. The results indicate that air
transport is essential for Greece and thorough the last year’s economic downturn is result-
ing higher dependence to aviation mainly because the tourism and air transport linkage
and the high spill-over effect of both industries to national economic model.
Ó 2018 Tongji University and Tongji University Press. Publishing Services by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction

Despite economic uncertainty, ACI (2014) highlighted that air travel grew 2.5 times as fast as global Gross Domestic Pro-
duct (GDP) in last 20 years. Despite this continuing trend of air traffic growth, this has not been matched with an adequate
expansion of air transport infrastructures, and aviation industry has to deal with various congestion problems (Selner and
Nagl, 2010). The genuine challenges for countries with limited resources is to explore and assess a number of measures
to mitigate the capacity challenges to reduce the levels of unaccommodated demand by planning new airport infrastructure
development to maximize the potential of social and economic development.
Davies and Downward (2007) highlight that the key drivers of the tourism growth in a specific destination deal with the
economic conditions of the origins and the destinations, the logistic cost and the commercial regulations as well as the
supply-chain capabilities and performance. The passenger’s decision for choosing the most suitable holiday option depends
on a variety of factors such as the consumer profile, the distance of the final destination, the transport options and the price

Peer review under responsibility of Tongji University and Tongji University Press.
⇑ Corresponding author. Fax: +30 25310 39830.
E-mail address: ddimitri@econ.duth.gr (D. Dimitrios).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijtst.2018.07.001
2046-0430/Ó 2018 Tongji University and Tongji University Press. Publishing Services by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
284 D. Dimitrios, S. Maria / International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology 7 (2018) 283–290

of services. Institutions, associations, authorities and governmental bodies, widely, recognize the need for monitoring tour-
ism demand and adopt strategies to achieve the economic benefits of tourism. Tretheway and Mark (2006) provide evidence
that for the summer holiday destinations the tourist demand is influenced essential from the supply chain cost control and
revenue management.
The complexity for assessing tourism and air connectivity arises out of the behavioral aspects of demand, the business
regulatory framework and the management abilities, mainly, because in the frame of business planning is essential to settle
targets, monitoring efficiency and assessing performance. In particular, air connectivity, as an indicator of a network’s con-
centration and its ability to move passengers from their origin to their destination is a vital component of a country’s socioe-
conomic development, because it creates wider economic benefits of trade in services and goods, tourism, investment,
productivity and innovation. The key objective of this paper is to quantify the socio-economic effects of air transport on
regions heavily depended on tourism, providing evidence on transport industry contribution on regional development. By
a systemic approach, the sources of the air transport effects are defined and an appropriate modelling framework is devel-
oped to provide results in terms of jobs and income. By a top-down analysis, air transport market key definitions and trends
are given and the key categories of air-transport impact on regional development are highlighted. By a systemic approach,
the sources of the air transport effects are defined and an appropriate modelling framework is developed to provide results in
terms of jobs and income. The methodological framework based on Input-Output modeling framework provides quantitative
outputs of the contribution of air transport to regional economy and socioeconomic development. The numerical application
is Greece, which is a very attractive tourist destination on one hand; and suffers from economic stress on the other. The
application results are essential for comparisons with other destinations and provide key messages regarding the relation-
ship of air transport and socioeconomic development.
The paper layout is organized in six sections. After the introduction, in the second section the tourism and air transport
trends are highlighted, providing the two industries environment. The third section deals with the methodology concept and
the modelling framework to quantify the socioeconomic effects of air transport. In sections four and five, the key features
and the results of the application are presented, while in the last sections, the key conclusions are drawn and the reference
are situated.

2. Air transport and tourism interaction

Over the last half century, tourism experienced continued expansion and diversification, becoming one of the largest and
dynamically developing sectors of external economic activities (WTTC, 2017), positively contributing to the social and eco-
nomic development of the region as a whole and compact system (Lee and Chang, 2008). In Europe, the International Tourist
Arrivals (ITA) present virtually uninterrupted growth – from 25 million in 1950, to 277 million in 1980, 528 million in 1995,
and 940 million in 2010, and this trend seems to continue reaching the level of 1.8 billion ITA in 2030 (UNWTO, 2017).
Europe (EU28) achieves 54.1% share of the global tourism market and the travel and tourism sector makes an increasingly
large contribution to the overall economy by foreign exchange earnings, contributing US$1512 billion to the European GDP,
which represents 9% of the overall GDP, and creating over 21 million jobs, which represents 10% of the overall employment
in 2013 (WTTC, 2017).
The Mediterranean region is one of the most attractive tourism destination in the world, accounting for approximately
more than a third of ITA in European Region, recording 228.45 million ITA in 2016 (UNWTO, 2017). For decades, the Mediter-
ranean destinations have provided, along with other attractions, the traditional sun, sand and sea product, essentially for the
North European markets. The northern part of Mediterranean tourism market is much more mature, although, recently a
widespread development in the south part is occurred. Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Croatia, Turkey and Egypt are the
leaders in attracting tourists in region of Mediterranean and tourism in these countries is one of the major sources of
national income (UNWTO, 2017).
On the other hand air transport is a key driver for tourism development, accommodating the higher shares in terms of ITA
(Forsyth and Dwyer, 2008). Whilst geography has meant that, in modern times, air travel has always been the dominant
mode for long distance travel and international tourism, moves towards deregulation, and in particular the emergence of
the low-cost carriers, has also increased aviation significance for short and medium haul tourism trips. Aviation new devel-
opments resulting changes in air connectivity and distribution channels affecting most of the tourist markets.
Traditionally, the relationship of tourism and GDP growth is stimulating the research interest providing results on high
contribution of air transport to business development, such those presented by Dimitriou et al. (2017) and Halpern and
Bråthen (2017). In many cases, tourism it is the key generator in terms of income and jobs at least in regional scale, and
the economic system development is heavily depended on air connectivity growth and resilience (Lim et al., 2008).
Becken and Lennox (2012) provide explanations of the high correlation between tourism and aviation growth, as tourism
is influenced by the social-economic conditions and the level of security at the destination and aviation is influenced by
the demand choice characteristics.
Air connectivity is an effective engine for increasing both competitiveness and economic growth. That is particularly cru-
cial in Europe, which relies on aviation to provide the international transport links that make Europe a global hub of social
and economic connectivity, and to compete on the world stage. Following the liberalization of aviation market in Europe
(European Union 28) the number of flights within the EU has more than doubled, the city pair markets operated by more
 D. Dimitrios, S. Maria / International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology 7 (2018) 283–290 285

than two airlines have quadrupled and low-cost carriers have boomed last decade and they now account for almost half of
the intra-European aviation market.
Air transport activities are correlated with multiple sectors of economy, especially tourism as highlighted by many
researchers. The connectivity brought by air transport is the generator of tourism development, providing substantial eco-
nomic benefits for all those involved in the tourism value chain. Approximately 1.2 billion tourists are crossing borders every
year, over half of whom arrived at their destinations by air (ICAO, 2017). European aviation industry (EU 28) supports
11.9 million jobs and generate income about US$860 billion contributing essential in EU GDP (ICAO, 2017). Chi and Baek
(2013) suggested that in the long-run, air passenger and freight services tend to increase with economic growth; however,
in the short-run, only air passenger service is responsive to economic growth.

3. Methodology for air transport socioeconomic impact assessment

3.1. Analysis background and definitions

The quantification of economic (income) and social (employment) impact due to air transport is estimated through eco-
nomic impact analysis. Economic impact analyses usually employ one of two methods for determining impacts: Input-
Output (IO) method and Computable General Equilibrium Model (CGE) method. IO models rely on inter-industry data to
determine how effects in one industry will impact other sectors (Dimitriou et al., 2017). Based on this data, multipliers
are calculated and used to estimate economic impacts. CGE models are economic simulation and complex econometric mod-
els. They account for everything the IO model does, plus they forecast the impacts caused by future economic, prices and
demographic changes (Dimitriou et al., 2015).
The air transport industry has a substantial economic impact, both through its own activities and as an enabler of other
industries (Lakshmanan, 2011). There are two levels of economic effects: the first level ensues through the generation of
employment, income, and capital investment ‘‘naturally” occurring in the process of producing air transport services and
the second level of effects are the dynamic economic ‘‘catalytic” or ‘‘spin-off” benefits, in particular the direct/inward invest-
ment including tourism development stimulated by aviation. Transportation Research Board report (TRB, 2008), provide a
concept to estimate the economic effects of air transport services, typically relying on the following approaches: IO models
(multipliers), the assessment of costs and benefits, and the analysis of catalytic effects. Applications of IO models have tra-
ditionally centered on the national level, but modifications to the method of account for the increasing interest of the inclu-
sion of specific local characteristics and regional economic development are popular (Dimitriou, 2018).
The most conceptual basis for the assessment of the new income and employment created due to an industry as air trans-
port considered to be IO analysis, providing the tool to assess structural changes in the economy, in terms of linkages
between economic sectors when an exogenous change such a new project takes place (Dimitriou et al., 2015). The assess-
ment about how the economic production structure will be change and in what direction are major concerns, for decision
makers. IO is system consisting of (a) a subsystem with several interdependent internal components; and (b) its external
environment. Internal interdependence implies that the outputs of some components are inputs to others and external com-
ponents may provide primary inputs to these interdependent components. The most common use of IO analysis is to eval-
uate the impact of exogenous changes in the external components on the interdependent components and on primary inputs
(Correa and Guajardoc, 2001).
The impacts due to air transport are divided into four distinct categories: direct, indirect, induced and catalytic (Dimitriou
et al., 2017, TRB, 2008, ACI, 2014, Dimitriou, 2018). Base on the air transport business activity serving remote tourist desti-
nations, the effects for each air transport activity are grouped in the specified categories as depicted in Table 1.

3.2. Quantification of direct and indirect economic impact footprint

The direct contribution of air transport sector in the national economy is measured by the direct contribution to employ-
ment (jobs created) and the contribution to GDP (income generated), and is quantified as the total number of jobs created

Table 1
Source of effects in economy by sub category of air transport.

Activity Source of effects in economic system

Direct Indirect Induced Catalytic
Air carriers Schedule and non-schedule Suppliers for carriers (catering, Multiplied effects caused by
carriers etc); Direct and Indirect effects
Airports Terminal, Apron and Landside Suppliers of airport terminal,
activities apron and land side area
Aerospace Air Traffic Control (ATC), Suppliers of ATC and MRO
Aircraft Maintenance (MRO)
Air connectivity International Tourist Arrivals Spillover effects by the
tourists spending
286 D. Dimitrios, S. Maria / International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology 7 (2018) 283–290

because of the region’s air transport activity. The air transport activity deals with air carriers and airport operations, aircraft
maintenance, air traffic control and activities directly serving air passengers, such as check-in, security services, baggage-
handling, on-site retail and catering. These jobs represent the jobs in aviation primary firms that serving the region under
examination. The primary firms of the air transport activity analytically include:

i. Aviation carriers serving the region, divided into two subcategories: (1) Scheduled carriers (including flight crew,
check-in staff, maintenance crew, etc.), (2) Nonscheduled carriers (seasonal or charter flights);
ii. Ground based infrastructure (airports) and services, divided into three subcategories: (1) Handling services, (2) Airport
operators and security, (3) Retail outlets, restaurants, airport hotels, etc.;
iii. Aerospace manufacturing including all maintenance levels for aircraft systems, airframes and engines (ACI, 2014).

The indirect contribution of air transport is quantified as the total number of jobs in the region that support the air trans-
port activity, including the suppliers to air transport, for example, jobs linked to aviation fuel suppliers; facilities manage-
ment and construction companies; the providers of products sold in airport retail shops, and a wide variety of supporting
activities related to the air transport services sector (call centers, IT, etc.). These activities exist because of the aviation busi-
ness in the region. Analytically the aviation supplier’s firms include:

i. Air Transport Business suppliers, divided into: (1) Off site fuel suppliers, (2) Maintenance and repair, (3) Airport rental
and landing fees, (4) Marketing and advertising, (5) Food and beverage suppliers commercial interactions and (6) IT
and communications.
ii. Ground based infrastructure (airports) and services, divided into (1) Facilities management and maintenance compa-
nies, (2) Producers of the products goods for the airport retail shops-outlets and (3) Food and beverage suppliers.
iii. Air Traffic Controllers and Aircraft Apron Inspectors, which are responsible for the air traffic safety.

3.3. Quantification of the induced and spillover effects of air transport

The Induced effect is referred to the income generated from the expenditures (consumption and investments) of the
direct and indirect employees. Therefore, induced contribution captures the secondary impacts to the economy as direct/
indirect sales, and payroll impacts are circulated to supporting industries through multiplier effects. Catalytic impact capture
the extent to which air transport contributes to a national/regional economy beyond any effects that are directly or indirectly
associated with the air transport industry itself. For air transport, there are many and different sources of catalytic economic
impact, covering most of the business activities and tourism. Therefore, the catalytic effects represent the income generated
by the air transport international tourist arrivals refereeing to air connectivity features. The estimation of the catalytic effects
of aviation in tourism is based on average international tourist spending multiplied per Origin Destination (O/D).
The induced and catalytic contribution on regional or national economy is estimated based on IO analysis. IO is used to
estimate how the change in demand for one business sector affects other sectors and the economy, based on the national IO
tables that represent the production structure of an economy by given the income generated in each economic sector for a
given time. The IO tables are compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts 2010 (EASA, 2010), harmonized
by Eurostat’s standardized questionnaire, which distinguishes 64 products (classification CPA2008) and 64 industries (NACE
rev 2. A64) and they are grouped in 38 different sectors. Each European State Member compiles its own national accounts,
through an institution appointed by its government, such as its National Statistical Office or its National Central Bank. The
latest available tables that are used in this application are for the reference year 2015.
The IO matrices describe the structure of the economy and they depict the transactions among the 38 different sectors of
the economy. Based on matric calculations these tables are converted into a set of coefficients (multipliers) that depict the
link among the sectors of economy, (Dimitriou et al., 2015). The transactions among various sectors of the economy that are
depicted in I-O tables as described above, can be described by the following equation:

Y ¼ ð I  AÞ  X ð1Þ

where: Y = nonnegative vector of final jobs or income generated by aviation direct and indirect activities; I = unit matrix
n  n; A = n  n nonnegative matrix of technological coefficients represent the change in terms of jobs or income; X = non-
negative vector of gross output of each aviation activity in terms of jobs or income; n = number of production sectors in
which [(I  A)](1) is the multiplier for each business sector for the region.
The Eq. (3) can be re-arranged to give:

X ¼ ðI  AÞ1 Y ð2Þ

hence:

dX ¼ ðI  AÞ1 dY ð3Þ

where: dX and dY is the change of X and Y vectors.

 D. Dimitrios, S. Maria / International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology 7 (2018) 283–290 287

The Eq. (3) indicates that any change in total output, is the product of a change in total final jobs or income multiplied by
ðI  AÞ1 : In other words, this describes the convention from transaction tables into a matrix of multiplier coefficients
(multipliers).

4. Case study

Greece has been selected for the application mainly for two reasons, because Greek economy is heavily dependent on the
tourism sector and it is long term suffering financial stress. Tourism is a key driver towards national economy recovery and
decisions on improving air connectivity and new investments in Greek airports in order to enable long term economic
growth are on the top of the strategic planning agenda.

4.1. Greek economy profile

Adoption of the Euro in the 2000s allowed Greece easy access to foreign borrowing that financed a significant expansion
of government spending. Private credit growth following financial liberalization also boost household consumption and after
having achieved high growth rates until 2006, showed signs of recession in 2007, whereas from 2009 onwards the recession
has been intensified considerably due to country’s fiscal imbalances. The need for financial consolidation led the country to
implement a recovery plan supported by the European Union, the International Momentary Fund and the European Central
Bank (IMF, International Monetary Fund, 2014). The restrictive income policy and drastic limitation of public expenses dur-
ing the past few years had a negative impact on GDP, as analytically depicted in Table 2.
Concerning social values, the growing unemployment rates in Greece is a major problem of the social life. According to
OECD (2016), the sharpest increases in long-term unemployment occurred in countries where lab our markets were hit par-
ticularly hard by the global financial crisis. Greece shows one of the highest shares of long-term unemployment among OECD
countries. According to OECD the unemployment in Greece remains stuck at close to its highest level in years 2011–2015
since the onset of the economic crisis as analytically depicted in Table 2.

4.2. Key features of air transport market in Greece

Despite the fact that since 2008, the transport industry in Greece has experienced the effects of economic recession, a
weak Greek economy recovery and rising fuel prices, the air transport industry has shown its resilience by adapting itself
to satisfy the needs of a very competitive market and respond to air traffic growth. This growth was driven by both the for-
eign visitors’ dynamic growth of as well as the Greek travelers’ robust rise as analytically depicted in Fig. 1, demonstrating
the considerable enhancement of Greek airports connectivity. Since 2008 to 2016 the scheduled international passengers
have been increased accumulative by 35.78%, international non scheduled by 31.43% and domestic passengers by 20.08%.
Both domestic and international passengers scheduled and non-scheduled achieved their highest record levels in year
2016 reaching 16.68 m, 20.44 m, and 15.86 respectively.
Air connectivity in Greece, is mainly led by North America and Europe destinations that have experienced strong eco-
nomic growth and resilient socioeconomic conditions over last decade. The top contributors in air connectivity that have

Table 2
GDP (market prices) and total employment for Greece, 2008–2016. Source: OECD (2016).

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

GDP (in market prices, (€) mio) 241.99 237.53 226.03 207.03 191.20 180.65 177.94 175.70 175.89
Employees (mio) 4.61 4.56 4.39 4.05 3.69 3.51 3.54 3.61 3.67

Fig. 1. Total passengers (2008–2016). Source: HCAA (2017).

288 D. Dimitrios, S. Maria / International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology 7 (2018) 283–290

a share of total air connectivity above 2% are United states, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy, Cyprus, Australia,
Canada.

4.3. Socioeconomic effects of air transport in Greece

The effects of air transport in Greek economy are quantified based on the modeling framework of IO analysis presented in
the modelling framework section. The application is for time period between 2008 and 2016 and the calculation results are
depicted analytically per impact category in Tables 3 and 4. Air Transport employed more than 365 thousand people in 2008
(analysis base year) and despite the significant growth of unemployment, and while the most of the economic sectors have
been shrink resulting less employment, air transport contributed to employment growth reaching around 385 million in
2016, corresponding to a cumulative 5.01% growth since the first year of recession (2008).
In terms of generated income, while the total income in Greek economy is reduced about 25% between 2008 and 2016,
the income caused by air transport is reduced less than 10% in the same time, providing evidence of the aviation business
resilience. The analysis of effects per category impact in terms of income, as calculated based on IO analysis framework, are
depicted in Table 4. The catalytic effects in 2016 were significant increased reaching the level of €8.6 billion, representing
almost the pre-economic crisis performance. It is noteworthy the air transport system reacted appropriate and tackle the
obstacles of economic recession, providing strong evidence of recovering.
The employment caused by air transport activity, reflecting the share of air transport sector employment to the total
national employment for Greece ranges from 7.94 in 2008 to 10.46 in 2016 corresponding 2.52% as analytically depicted
in Table 5.
The income caused by air transport activity, reflecting the percentage of income due to air transport to total GDP in terms
of income ranges from 9.22 in 2008 to 9.68% in 2016, corresponding to an increase equal with 0.46% as analytically depicted
in Table 6.
Analyzing the results, the highlighted conclusion is that while more of the business sectors face strong downturns during
the years of recession (2008–2016), the air transport activity is reacting positively and resulting higher contribution in
national income and employment, by contributing cumulative +2.52% to national employment and +0.46% to national
GDP. This growth is driven mainly from the catalytic impact growth (+2.01%) to national employment and (+0.47%) to
national GDP.

Table 3
Air transport socioeconomic effect in terms of jobs in Greece (2008–2016).

Impact in employment 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 % Change

(2008–2016)
Direct 35,000 34,825 34,651 35,344 36,051 3.00%
Indirect 15,000 14,850 14,702 14,113 13,549 -9.67%
Induced 45,872 45,573 45,277 45,374 45,504 -0.80%
Catalytic 270,000 261,900 230,472 258,129 289,104 7.08%
Cumulative 365,872 357,148 325,102 352,960 384,208 5.01%

Table 4
Air transport socioeconomic effect in terms of income in Greece (2008–2016).

Impact in GDP (million euro) 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 % Change
(2008–2016)
Direct 1225 1132 1040 1060 1082 11.71%
Indirect 675 631 588 565 542 19.71%
Induced 1835 1709 1585 1588 1593 13.20%
Catalytic 9450 8512 6914 7744 8673 8.22%
Cumulative 13,185 11,984 10,126 10,957 11,889 9.83%

Table 5
Development of air transport contribution on national employment (2008–2016).

(%) Contribution in national employment 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 % Change
(2008–2016)
Direct 0.76% 0.79% 0.94% 1.00% 0.98% 0.22%
Indirect 0.33% 0.34% 0.40% 0.40% 0.37% 0.04%
Induced 0.99% 1.04% 1.23% 1.28% 1.24% 0.24%
Catalytic 5.86% 5.97% 6.24% 7.30% 7.87% 2.01%
Cumulative 7.94% 8.14% 8.80% 9.98% 10.46% 2.52%
 D. Dimitrios, S. Maria / International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology 7 (2018) 283–290 289

Table 6
Development of air transport contribution on national GDP (2008–2016).

(%) Contribution in national GDP 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 % Change
(2008–2016)
Direct 1.01% 1.01% 1.00% 1.02% 1.04% 0.03%
Indirect 0.37% 0.37% 0.36% 0.35% 0.34% 0.04%
Induced 1.14% 1.13% 1.12% 1.13% 1.13% 0.01%
Catalytic 6.69% 6.49% 5.71% 6.40% 7.17% 0.47%
Cumulative 9.22% 9.00% 8.20% 8.90% 9.68% 0.46%

5. Concluding remarks

Air transport activity has a substantial economic impact, both through its own activities and as an enabler of other indus-
tries. By a systemic approach the sources of the air transport effect are defined and an appropriate modelling framework is
developed to provide results in terms of jobs and income. The methodology concept and modelling approach provide essen-
tial benefits to support decisions on investments prioritization, infrastructure or services privatization and sustainable
strategic planning, providing essential tool to scenario assessment, to improve air connectivity and enable long term socioe-
conomic development.
The application given is the nation of Greece, which it’s very attractive tourist destination. The results indicate that air
connectivity is essential for Greece and thorough the last year’s economic downturn is resulting higher dependence to avi-
ation mainly because the tourism and air transport linkage and the high spill-over effect of both industries to national eco-
nomic model. Therefore, air connectivity improvement is a crucial issue that planners and decision makers should be
concentrated towards economic recovery and decisions impact aviation business, especially, for the aviation related ground
infrastructures (ownership scheme, investments etc.) must be reviewed under the view of the impact on local economy and
business resilience. The results highlight key messages to decision makers and stakeholders regarding the air connectivity
and economy linkage and provide an essential tool to estimate the impact of alternative policies and investments in indus-
tries related to air connectivity, aviation and tourism.
The results suggest that investment in air transport infrastructure spur growth and will generate employment directly
but also through indirect and induced multiplier effects across the economy. This is imperative to support decision makers
to invest in such infrastructures and ensure sustained reduction in current inequalities in income distribution and reduce the
high levels of poverty and unemployment. The novelty of the methodology framework adopted is that it could be a useful
and easy handle tool to support stakeholders, decision makers, planners and managers around regulation policy, pricing pol-
icy and strategic planning to invest in air transport infrastructures, and monitor the air transport sector performance with
desirable economic and financial targets as well as social outcomes. The managerial implications provided to industry based
on the above methodology framework is to monitor and improve efficiency in sectors of air transport and tourism industry.

References

ACI, 2014. The Economic impact of Commercial airports. ACI-NA 2013 US Commercial Airports Economic Impact Report [online] Available from: https://
www.aci-na.org/sites/default/files/economic_impact_of_commercial_aviation 2013_update_final_v10.pdf.
Becken, S., Lennox, J., 2012. Implications of a long-term increase in oil prices for tourism. J. Tour. Manage. 33 (1), 133–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.tranpol.2013.03.005.
Chi, J., Baek, J., 2013. Dynamic relationship between air transport demand and economic growth in the United States: a new look. Transp. Policy 29 (2013),
257–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2013.03.005.
Correa, H., Guajardoc, S., 2001. An application of input–output analysis to a city’s municipal government. Socio-Econom. Plann. Sci. 35 (2), 83–108. https://
doi.org/10.1016/S0038-0121(00)00012-4.
Davies, B., Downward, P., 2007. Exploring price and non-price decision making in the UK package tour industry: insights from small-scale travel agents and
tour operators. Tour. Manage. J. 28 (5), 1236–1261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2006.09.020.
Dimitriou, D., 2018. Chapter 9: Air Transport Economic Footprint in Remote Tourism Destinations 2018 Mobilities, Tourism and Travel Behavior - Contexts
and Boundaries Βook 10.5772/intechopen.71597.
Dimitriou, D., Mourmouris, J., Sartzetaki, M., 2015. Economic impact assessment of mega infrastructure projects. Int. J. Appl. Econom. 47 (40), 4310–4322.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2015.1026591.
Dimitriou, D., Mourmouris, J., Sartzetaki, M., 2017. Quantification of the air transport industry socio-economic impact on regions heavily depended on
tourism. Transp. Res. Procedia 25 (2017), 5242–5254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2018.02.051.
EASA, 2010. European Systems of National and Regional Accounts, [online] Available: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-
guidelines/-/KS-02-13-269.
Forsyth, P., Dwyer, L., 2008. Economic measures of tourism yield: what markets to target? Int. J. Tour. Res. 10, 155–168. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.648.
Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, 2017. Air Traffic Statistics, accessed January 2017. http://www.ypa.gr/en/profile/statistics
Halpern, N., Bråthen, S., 2017. Impact of airports on regional accessibility and social development. J. Transport Geogr. 19 (6), 1145–1154. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2010.11.006.
ICAO, 2017. Aviation Benefits Beyond Borders, pp. 20–24. [online] Available: https://www.icao.int/sustainability/Documents/AVIATION-BENEFITS-2017-
web.pdf.
IMF, International Monetary Fund Country report no. 14/151, IMF 2014 Washington, DC, [online] Available.
Lakshmanan, T.R., 2011. The broader economic consequences of transport infrastructure investments. J. Transp. Geogr. 19 (1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.jtrangeo.2010.01.001.
Lee, C.C., Chang, C.P., 2008. Tourism development and economic growth: a closer look at panels. Tour. Manage. J. 29 (1), 180–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.tourman.2007.02.013.
290 D. Dimitrios, S. Maria / International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology 7 (2018) 283–290

Lim, C., Min, J.C.H., McAleer, M., 2008. Modelling income effects on long and short haul international travel from Japan. J. Tour. Manage. 29 (6), 1099–1109.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2008.02.012.
OECD, 2016. Economic Outlook, Volume 2016, Issue 2, Database, OECD, Paris. [online] Available http://www.oecd.org/eco/outlook/economic-forecast-
summary-greece-oecd-economic-outlook-november-2016.pdf.
Selner, R., Nagl, P., 2010. Air accessibility and growth-The economic effects of a capacity expansion at Vienna International Airport. J. Air Transport Manage.
16 (6), 325–329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2010.04.003.
TRB, 2008. Airport economic impact. Methods and models. A synthesis of airport practice. Airport Cooperative Research Programme Synthesis 7,
Transportation Research Board of the national academies 2008 Washington DC.
Tretheway, M., Mark, D., 2006. Emerging tourism markets: ageing and developing economies. J. Air Transport Manage. 12 (1), 21–27. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.jairtraman.2005.09.008.
UNWTO, 2017. Tourism Highlights Report, United Nations World Tourism Organization, Madrid, Spain, pp. 4. [online] Available : http://mkt.unwto.org/
publication/unwto-tourism-highlights.
WTTC, 2017. Travel and Tourism economic impact Report, European Union, World Travel and Tourism Council, London, UK, pp. 1–4. [online] Available:
https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/regions-2017/world2017.pdf.