The FAA recently commissioned a study called “General Aviation Airports: A National Asset” to help us understand General Aviation Airports and how they fit in to our national air transportation system.

There are almost 3000 airports on the list and just over 2450 airports were analyzed over an 18-month period. These airports have been grouped, according to their various activities, into 4 basic categories – national, regional, local and basic.

The study concluded that General Aviation Airports serve in many ways to advance the public interest. Access to medical flights, search and rescue, disaster relief, fire fighting, law enforcement, flight instruction, and commercial & cargo flights were some of the activities noted.

The activity at each airport included the number and type of aircraft based at the airport along with passenger boardings and other flight activities.

As one would suspect, our national airports provide access to national and international communities; regional airports provide access to state and regional areas; local airports provide access to smaller geographical areas and basic airports provide links on a smaller scale. The remaining airports on the list are to be included in the study soon.

This study points out that General Aviation airports contributed $38.8 billion to our economy in 2009. Wow!

While we applaud the administration for conducting this study, we’re concerned that the results will be used for counter-productive means. Will they use some of the results to reduce funding for airports that provide vital links and services? These communities would have few opportunities to connect with the national air transportation system, otherwise.

Will “Business Aviation” continue to be a target for higher fees in spite of it’s tremendous contribution to our economy? I believe this study should be renamed “Business Aviation Airports: A National Asset” for it is the “Business” of aviation that is indeed an asset for us all.