ABC-ADE is a suite of tools for assessing the economic impacts, benefits, costs and local development implications of airports and airport improvement projects. These tools are designed for both general aviation airports and commercial service airports. There are two sets of tools:

ABC (Airport Benefit Cost) is a relational database system for statewide airport system planning. This system calculates the economic impact of existing airports (from both local and state perspectives) under existing and future scenarios. It also provides benefit-cost analysis for alternative scenarios for future packages of state or regional airport improvements. It is designed to assess:

• Benefits and costs of alternative airport investments, following FAA guidelines
• Different views of benefits & costs from local, state and national perspectives
• Impacts of policies that shift passenger and cargo among airports
• Roles of the airport system in supporting economic growth

The system is used on an ongoing basis by Wisconsin DOT (as ABC - the Airport Benefit-Cost system) and by Michigan DOT (as CBA - the Community Benefit Assessment system). Colorado and Virginia statewide airport studies have also utilized variants of this system.

ADE (Airport Development Economics) is a software calculation system for individual airport planning. The system estimates economic impact of existing airport activity and the economic development and land use implication of expanded future airport services and facilities. It is designed to assess:

• Generation of jobs and income at the airport
• Supporting business activity and land development adjacent to the airport
• Community & regional impacts on jobs, income, value added, business attraction
• Potential for economic development associated with airport service and facility expansion

The system is customized for individual airports. Staff of Atlanta Hartsfield Airport use their Economic Impact Model on an ongoing basis. Studies for Lansing Capital City Airport use a version for expansion planning. Overseas, the ADE has been used for assessing impacts of planned airport expansion from Pretoria (S. Africa) to Glasgow (Scotland).

For more information, please contact staff of EDR Group.