ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the impacts and benefits of airports and then considers the effect on airports of the 2020–2022 pandemic. A number of techniques are available to assess the impact and benefits of airports. The strengths and weaknesses of these different methods are discussed in detail. It is crucial to distinguish impacts on employment, GDP from the welfare effects. The welfare effects can be handled sufficiently well by CBA and some CGE models. EIA models claim to measuring benefits in form of impacts on jobs and GDP but this approach mixes benefits and costs. The concept of an airport’s wider economic benefits is critically discussed. It is a theoretical well-defined concept, but the empirical estimations need further research. COVID-19 was the greatest disturbance yet to hit the airport industry. The chapter analyses how airports began to respond in the area of user charges once the immediate crisis had passed. Airport responded differently depending on factors such as their ownership and the degree of competition they faced. Monopoly airports will raise charges most and competitive airports least. How regulated airports respond depends on the particular regulatory regime.
