Aviation Economic Benefits PDF
Aviation Economic Benefits PDF
Aviation Economic Benefits PDF
Benefits
IATA ECONOMICS BRIEFING No 8
Measuring the economic rate
of return on investment in the
aviation industry
IATA Economics Briefing No 8:
AVIATION ECONOMIC BENEFITS
Mark Smyth
Brian Pearce
01 Executive Summary
page 04
02 Report Outline
page 10
04 Aviation Connectivity
page 16
06 Investment Examples
page 26
07 Policy Implications
page 30
08 Summary
page 32
Summary
Air transport can play a key role in
economic development and in supporting
long-term economic growth. It facilitates
a countrys integration into the global
economy, providing direct benefits for users
and wider economic benefits through its
positive impact on productivity and growth.
Economic growth is determined by the resources available to a nation in the
form of labour, energy, materials and capital and the productive way in which
these resources are used. Productivity can vary according to a number of factors,
the most important of which are generally considered to be education, research and
development and the level of capital assets available to each worker. However, this
report provides new evidence that connections to the global air transport network
and the advantages these provide for businesses create a key infrastructure asset
that enhances productivity, and improves economic performance.
A positive link between connectivity and A positive impact from R&D. A higher level of
productivity. The model shows that connectivity expenditure on research and development is shown
has a statistically significant relationship with to have a positive impact on productivity. R&D helps
labour productivity levels. It shows that a 10% to develop new production methods and knowledge,
rise in connectivity, relative to a countrys GDP, allowing more output to be produced from a similar
will boost labour productivity levels by 0.07%. level of inputs.
A greater impact for developing countries. Other factors can constrain productivity in
The relationship between connectivity and productivity some countries. For developed countries (e.g. the
is logarithmic (i.e. based on percentage changes in US and UK) there is little difference in productivity
both values), rather than linear. This suggests that levels beyond those that are explained by differences
investments in air transport capacity in developing in capital spending, education, R&D and connectivity.
or transition countries, where connectivity is currently However, for some developing countries (e.g. India)
relatively low, will have a much larger impact on their the country specific indicator highlights other factors
productivity and economic success than a similar level (i.e. institutional or social) that can act as a constraint
of investment in a relatively developed country. on productivity.
The results are consistent with previous studies undertaken for the telecoms and IT industries. Air transportation
has a smaller impact on productivity than the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, where a
10% increase in ICT investment can lead to a 0.5-1.2% increase in productivity2 . However, this is to be expected, as
investment in ICT has been substantial and has acted as a key driver of productivity growth over the last 25 years. The
impact of investment in aviation is lower, but is still high and can provide significant additional economic benefits.
The estimated impact for aviation connectivity is lower than estimated in the previous IATA report on Airline Network
Benefits. This analysis looked just at EU economies and found a 10% rise in connectivity, relative to a countrys GDP,
boosted total factor productivity by 0.9%. By adopting a high-level, top-down approach, the estimates in the previous
study may have picked-up some of the additional impacts associated with wider investment or country-specific factors.
The analysis adopted in this report uses a more comprehensive database across a wider range of countries, allowing
for a bottom-up approach that can more closely identify the impact of each individual variable. Nevertheless, it shows
investment in aviation can deliver economic rates of return that are much higher than for many other public or private
investments.
2 T.M.
Harchaoui and F. Tarkhani (2004), Whatever Happened to U.S.-Canada Economic Growth and Productivity Performance in the Information
Age?, Statistics Canada Research Paper.
Key policy implications
This report provides new evidence that greater con-
nections to the global air transport network can boost a
countrys productivity and economic performance. These
results lead to the following key implications for aviation
policy makers:
1. Investment in aviation can generate significant 3. Liberalisation can also help to support
wider economic benefits greater connectivity
There are significant and positive benefits generated Airline liberalisation can further increase demand
by investment in aviation, particularly in developing and ensure that the services providing increased
economies. By increasing a countrys connections to connectivity are sustainable over the long-term.
the global air transport network, investment in aviation It provides the commercial freedom necessary for
can boost productivity and economic growth. airlines to adjust capacity appropriately to meet changes
in market demand. By way of example, the growth in air
2. Wider economic benefits must be included services between Poland and the UK since 2003 has
in policy appraisals increased connectivity as a proportion of GDP by 27%
The wider economic benefits available from for Poland, whereas the increase in the already well-
investment in aviation infrastructure and services served UK was a much smaller 0.5%. These changes
should be included in any project appraisal. If these provide an estimated long-term boost to Polands
benefits are excluded, it will underestimate the potential productivity of US$634 million per annum. The UK
social and economic gains from a project and could see also benefited, with an estimated boost to its GDP
much-needed investment projects either delayed or not of US$45 million per annum.
undertaken. The wider social and environmental costs
4. The wider economic benefits help to boost
of aviation investment are rightly included in a project
competitiveness
appraisal but the wider economic benefits also need
to be included if the appraisal is to be balanced Greater aviation connectivity and the improvements
and comprehensive. in productivity and GDP growth it can provide can
also help to boost a countrys competitiveness. By way
of illustration, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has
developed a Global Competitiveness Index for the travel
and tourism sector3. The WEFs index incorporates many
of the factors necessary to develop connectivity and
create wider economic benefits in terms of productivity
and economic growth. There is a clear positive relationship
between a countrys connectivity and its performance in
the WEF index.
3 See WEF (2007), The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2007: Furthering the Process of Economic Development
02 Report Outline
Productivity and economic growth The links between connectivity and economic growth
Chapter 3 discusses the importance of productivity Chapter 5 shows the key results from the statistical
improvements for long-term economic performance. It analysis of the relationship between connectivity,
outlines how improvements in productivity (i.e. using less productivity and long-term economic growth. It shows
resources to produce the same output or producing more how increasing connectivity can have a positive effect
output with the same level of resources) are central to the on productivity and growth, with the greatest potential
long-term competitiveness and expansion in productive impact among developing economies.
potential of an economy.
The economic return on aviation investment
Measuring connectivity
Chapter 6 applies the key results to examples of
Chapter 4 outlines how a countrys connections to investment in aviation infrastructure in several countries.
the global air transport network can be defined and It demonstrates how a positive and significant economic
measured. It compares the level of connectivity across rate of return over and above that earned by direct
a range of countries, both in absolute terms and as a users can be generated through investment.
proportion of GDP levels.
Policy implications
Chapter 7 discusses how aviation investment and
other policies can be used as a central part of a
countrys economic development strategy. Greater
connectivity can provide significant benefits, for users,
firms and the wider economy.
Economic Growth
Increases in labour and total factor
productivity are key components of long-
term improvements in economic standards
and growth. They allow an economy to use
existing resources more effectively and
to expand its productive potential.
03 - Aviation Economic Benefits 13
4 Paul Krugman 1992, The Age of Diminished Expectations: US Economic Policy in the 1980s, MIT Press, Cambridge, p. 9.
5 Alan Blinder and William Baumol 1993, Economics: Principles and Policy, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego, p. 778.
Therefore, an alternative productivity measure can be used, As a result, many governments (or their statistical
called Total Factor Productivity (TFP), that considers not agencies) only collect and report data on labour
only the productivity of labour but also the use of capital, productivity and other productivity measures based on a
energy and other materials. It is the ratio of output to a single input factor.
measure of the total inputs used in producing an amount
of output. It is calculated as:
The relationship between labour
Total Factor Productivity (TFP)
=
productivity and TFP
Output level / Aggregate input quantity index For the purposes of the analysis in this report, a standard
measure of productivity was required across a range
of countries. Given that several of these countries did
The aggregate input quantity index adds up all of the
not report TFP measures, a national labour productivity
factors of production that are used to produce the level
measure was chosen instead. While not as broad as TFP,
of output. However, while TFP is a more comprehensive
it is still a critical measure of economic performance.
measure, it is more difficult to measure. As such, only a
However, to ensure that any results derived from the
few countries regularly report TFP calculations, with no
analysis were still valid, it was important to prove that
estimates available for the level of TFP in many countries.
labour productivity and TFP are closely related and move
There are two main reasons for this:
in similar directions.
Firstly, the process for calculating TFP is fairly
Measures of both labour productivity and TFP are available
complex. Labour productivity can be measured by a
for fourteen developed economies through the IMF and
simple ratio of output to labour hours. However, TFP
OECD (consisting of countries in Western Europe, North
requires greater data requirements across a wide
America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Using this
range of input values, several of which can be
sample over the period 1996 to 2005, Chart 2 shows
difficult to measure.
that the measures of TFP and labour productivity are
Secondly, economists and accountants differ strongly and positively correlated (i.e. when TFP is higher
significantly in how they measure capital inputs. labour productivity is higher and vice versa). Indeed, the
Accountants adopt a depreciation policy and record correlation coefficient between the two measures is 0.86
interest payments and capital rentals. Economists (a measure of 1 reflects a perfect correlation). Therefore,
believe that this under-represents the amount of over time, changes in productivity captured by the labour
capital actually used by a firm or by an economy. productivity measure will be very similar to those captured
The depreciation policy (e.g. straight-line depreciation) by the TFP measure.
may reflect the level of depreciation across the asset
life, but may not accurately reflect the actual amount
of depreciation at a point in time. In addition, accoun- Chart 2: Labour productivity and TFP
tants do not measure the cost of equity capital or
how taxation can affect the cost of capital.
03 - Aviation Economic Benefits 15
04 Aviation
Connectivity
Connectivity measures the access
available from a countrys major airports
to the global air transport network. It is
a qualitative measure of a countrys air
transport services, from the point of view
of its businesses. The higher the level
of connectivity the greater the level of
access to the global economy.
Measuring connectivity
IATA has developed a connectivity indicator to measure the degree of integration a
country has within the global air transport network. It is a measure of the number
and economic importance of the destinations served from a countrys major airports,
the frequency of service to each destination and the number of onward connections
available from each destination. Connectivity increases as the range of destinations
increases, the frequency of service increases and/or larger hub airport destinations
are served.
04 - Aviation Economic Benefits 17
A connectivity indicator was developed for a range of For example, Atlanta airport, as the worlds largest airport,
countries using the SRS Analyser and OAG databases is given a weighting of 1 while Paris CDG airport, which
of scheduled airline flights. The countries chosen cover handles 61% of the number of passengers handled by
different regions and levels of economic development, Atlanta, is given a weighting of 0.61. Therefore, if an
split into one of the following categories: airport has 1000 seats available to Atlanta it is given
a weighted total of 1000. But if also has 1000 seats
North America and Western Europe: available to Paris CDG, these are given a weighted total
Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, of 610.
France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,
Malta, Netherlands,Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, The weighted totals are then summed for all destinations
Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States. (and divided by a scalar factor of 1000) to determine the
connectivity indicator. Therefore, the connectivity indicator
Developed Asia: can be represented as:
Australia, Japan, New Zealand.
(Frequency * Available Seats per Flight *
Emerging Europe: Weighting of destination airport) / 1000
Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, A higher figure for the connectivity indicator represents a
Turkey. greater degree of access to the global air transport network.
It is a qualitative indicator, reflecting the importance of not
Transitioning Asia and South America: just serving a large number of destinations, but serving
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, Israel, Korea, those destinations that have a high economic importance
Mexico, Singapore. and the ability to access a large number of onward
connections for the business passenger. For example,
Emerging Asia and Africa:
as shown in Table 2, in 2005 London Heathrow served
China, Egypt, India, South Africa. around twice as many destinations as Johannesburg
airport and five times as many destinations as Nairobi
The connectivity indicator is based on the number of
airport. However, Heathrow served a larger number of
available seats to each destination served for the first
major airports, also with higher frequencies, giving the
week in July in each year between 1996 and 2005.
UK significantly greater access to the global air transport
The number of available seats to each destination are
network than South Africa and Kenya. This is reflected
then weighted by the size of the destination airport (in
in the connectivity indicator, with the value for London
terms of number of passengers handled in each year).
Heathrow over 7 times greater than for Johannesburg
The weighting for each destination gives an indication
and over 26 times greater than that for Nairobi.
of the economic importance of the destination airport
and the number of onward connections it can provide.
and Economic
Growth
Greater connectivity to the global air
transport network is a key driver of
economic development and growth.
It connects businesses and people to
the global economy, opening up a wider
range of economic opportunities.
05 - Aviation Economic Benefits 21
7 See InterVISTAS (2005), Enabling Canadas Economic Potential: ICT and National Economic Performance.
The key results derived from the statistical model are: ii) Determining the causality of the relationship
A positive link between connectivity and The next step of the analysis was to determine that,
productivity. The model shows that connectivity though there is a positive link between connectivity and
has a statistically significant relationship with productivity, it is greater connectivity that causes greater
labour productivity levels. It shows that a 10% productivity and not vice versa. A Granger causality test
rise in connectivity, relative to a countrys GDP, was undertaken, details of which are outlined in Annex A.
will boost labour productivity levels by 0.07%.
The analysis found that there was no evidence that
A greater impact for developing countries. changes in productivity directly cause changes in
The relationship between connectivity and productivity connectivity, a finding that would undermine the statistical
is logarithmic (i.e. based on percentage changes in relationship found above. However, it was also unable to
both values), rather than linear. This suggests that provide conclusive evidence that the direction of causality
investments in air transport capacity in developing is solely from changes in connectivity directly causing
or transition countries, where connectivity is currently changes in productivity. To some extent, the test may be
relatively low, will have a much larger impact on their affected by the connectivity indicator being expressed
productivity and economic success than a similar level as a proportion of GDP in other words changes in
of investment in a relatively developed country. productivity and GDP are already reflected in the indicator
itself.
Capital investment has the greatest impact
on productivity. In line with economic theory, However, the results of the test may also demonstrate
investments in the overall capital stock are shown the dynamic, virtuous cycle benefits available from higher
to have a strong positive impact on productivity levels. connectivity. As such, an increase in connectivity can
Higher levels of capital per worker reflect a greater initially lead to improved productivity and higher GDP.
use of technology, allowing a higher level of output to As the economy grows, it is able to support a larger air
be produced. A 1% rise in capital spending per worker transport sector, which itself encourages further increases
is found to increase labour productivity by 0.37%. in connectivity, providing a second round of positive
effects for productivity and GDP. Increasing air transport
A positive impact from R&D. Also in line with links can therefore not only provide an initial benefit but
economic theory, a higher level of expenditure on can also act as a catalyst for further productivity and
research and development is shown to have a positive economic growth.
impact on productivity. R&D helps to develop new
production methods and knowledge, allowing more
output to be produced from a similar level of inputs.
An increase in R&D spending equivalent to 1%
of GDP is found to increase productivity by 0.1%.
The indicator for education was also shown to have
a positive impact on productivity. However, the
indicator was statistically weak, suggesting that
its impacts may also be picked up in the R&D
and country-specific indicators.
8 T.M.
Harchaoui and F. Tarkhani (2004), Whatever Happened to U.S.-Canada Economic Growth and Productivity Performance in the Information
Age?, Statistics Canada Research Paper.
06 Investment
Examples
Investment in aviation infrastructure
and services can provide a significant
economic rate of return. These returns
benefit the performance and growth of
the national economy.
06 - Aviation Economic Benefits 27
This chapter applies the estimated impact of connectivity The investment of C$1,805 million was associated with a
on productivity and GDP to a few investment examples. It 25% rise in the connectivity of YVR, relative to GDP, and
shows that investment in aviation can create a significant a 5.4% increase in connectivity for Canada as a whole.
economic rate of return. These returns are in addition to Using the results from chapter 5, where a 10% increase
the direct returns earned by investors and users. Individual in the connectivity indicator leads to a 0.07% increase
investment projects will also have separate rates of return in productivity, meant that the investment at Vancouver
to air carriers and airports through increased profitability raised Canadas long-term productivity by 0.04%.
(e.g. reduced engine idling time due to fewer delays at Assuming that the number of hours worked remains
the airport, lower unit operating costs at the airport from constant, this percentage can be applied to the level of
the application of new technologies). GDP in Canada to derive an annual return. Canadas GDP
in 2005 was C$969 billion, implying a long-term boost to
Canadian GDP of C$348 million per annum (i.e. C$969
Vancouver International Airport billion multiplied by 0.04%).
The expansion of Vancouver International Airport (YVR) Therefore, the investment at YVR produced a significant
in Canada provides a practical example of the positive annual economic rate of return of 19.3% (i.e. C$348
economic rate of return available from investing in air million divided by the investment of C$1,805 million).
transport infrastructure. This represents a significant and positive wider economic
benefit from the investment. In addition, the rate of return
Between 1995 and 2000 the airport authority at YVR does not include the direct benefits to passengers of the
made substantial investments in terminals, runways and added services or any increase in profits for the airport
other infrastructure in order to increase the capacity of or airlines. The total economic rate of return of the
the airport. The investment in capacity helped to stimulate investment would be considerably higher.
demand and to facilitate and support additional traffic
arising from the liberalisation of air services between
Canada and the US in 1995. Examples from developing
The total investment in new infrastructure and services economies
was C$1,805 million (at 2005 prices) consisting of:
Applying a similar methodology, the economic rate of
A net investment in YVRs airport infrastructure return can also be estimated for aviation investment
after allowing for some replacement investment examples in several developing economies (see Table
of C$506 million. 3). These estimates are based on capital investment
programmes at the major international airport (sourced
An estimated investment in new aircraft of C$1,280 from the Airports Council International) of each country
million. To handle the increase in passenger demand between 2000 and 2005 and estimates have been made
(an additional 4 million passengers per annum) airlines of the new aircraft required, based on the increase in seat
needed to invest in new aircraft. It is difficult to isolate capacity at the airport between 2000 and 2005, using
the specific airline investment, but assuming a 5% 200-seat aircraft with a list price of US$150 million.
increase in load factors, the increase in passengers
would need to be supported by an extra 8 aircraft Between 2000 and 2005, connectivity relative to GDP
(with an average of 200 seats) flying an average of increased by between 28% and 59% across the five
4 flights a day. countries. As such, the estimated long-term boost to
productivity and GDP ranged from 0.2% to 0.42%. This
An investment by the Canadian federal government of impact is substantially larger than that of the Canadian
C$19 million on a new air traffic control tower in 1996. example (0.04%), demonstrating the higher marginal
effects that are available from increased connectivity in
developing economies.
Kenya, with the highest increase in connectivity and a
larger economy than the other examples, enjoys the
highest annual economic rate of return of 59%. For
the other developing economies the annual economic
rates of return range from 16% to 28%. These are still
strong rates of return, but are more comparable with the
rate of return in Canada (19.3%). These returns also
do not include the direct benefits to passengers or any
improvement in the profits of the airport and airlines.
Implications
An increase in connectivity can create
substantial long-term economic benefits,
for both developed and developing
economies. Delivering these benefits
requires investment and other policy
support, such as market liberalisation.
This report sets out a framework for wider economic benefits to be included, based
upon the impact that improvements in connectivity can have on productivity and
economic growth. It demonstrates the significant and positive benefits that can be
associated with investment in aviation, particularly in developing economies. It provides
a statistically significant estimate of the impact of connectivity on productivity. Further
research in this area can help to develop the analysis.
07 - Aviation Economic Benefits 31
By way of example, the accession of Poland to the EU in Investment in a countrys air transport sector is important
2004 provided access to the liberalised EU Open Aviation for its economic development. The WEF index shows
Area. One result of this was an increase in the number of how it can benefit the travel and tourism industry, but
air connections between Poland and the UK. This provided improved connectivity can also improve the productivity
positive wider economic benefits to both countries, with and growth of the economy as a whole. Improvements
particular benefits for the emerging economy, Poland. in connectivity help to serve a countrys business sector
Between June 2003 and June 2006 the number of in a better and more comprehensive fashion. Investment
flights a week between the two countries increased in aviation helps to deliver improvements in connectivity
from 58 to 250 (and available seats rose from 7,000 to and to generate the significant wider economic benefits
40,000). In terms of connectivity as a proportion of GDP, it can provide.
this represented a 27% increase for Poland, whereas the
increase in the already well-served UK was a much smaller
0.5%. Applying the results from the statistical analysis, Chart 7: WEF Competitiveness Score
the estimated long-term boost to Polands productivity and Connectivity
and GDP was 0.19% (US$634 million per annum). The
UK also benefited, with an estimated 0.004% boost to its
GDP (US$45 million per annum).
Investment in aviation can generate a significant Increases in connectivity can have a higher marginal
economic rate of return. This return is in addition impact for developing countries. Investment in air
to the direct returns received by investors and users. transport capacity in developing or transition countries,
High annual economic returns of around 20% are where connectivity is currently relatively low, will have
estimated for several examples, implying a full a much larger impact on their productivity and economic
economic return on investment within five to six success than a similar level of investment in a
years. For larger developing economies the relatively developed country.
economic rate of return can be even higher.
Improvements in connectivity can potentially
There is a statisticallly significant and positive link create a virtuous cycle for an economy. An increase
between connectivity and productivity. A 10% increase in connectivity can initially lead to improved productivity
in connectivity, relative to GDP, can increase long-term and higher GDP. As the economy grows, it is able
productivity levels by 0.07%. to support a larger air transport sector, which itself
encourages further increases in connectivity, providing
a second round of positive effects for productivity
and GDP.
The report highlights the wider economic benefits that are available through investment in air transport infrastructure
and other policies that enable the industry to grow in a sustainable and environmentally responsible manner
Governments and other stakeholders should recognise these additional benefits and account for them within aviation
policy appraisals.
Sustainable growth
not artificial constraints
is the best way to maximise
the benefits of the aviation
industry for all countries.
ANNEX A: THE ECONOMETRIC MODEL
InterVISTAS developed an econometric model to estimate The results of the model are shown in Table A1. Of the main
the impact of changes in connectivity and in other factors variables, only the %Education variable is not statistically
on labour productivity levels within the sample database. significant at a 95% confidence level. This may be due,
The statistical form of the model, estimated from data in part, to its impact being partly captured by the country
covering the period 1996 to 2005, is: specific variables. The largest impact on productivity
comes from GFCF/Worker. A 1% rise in capital spending
per worker will increase labour productivity by 0.37%.
Ln(Labour Productivity)
The connectivity indicator is both statistically significant
= and positive. A 10% increase in connectivity will increase
Constant labour productivity by 0.07%.