An Industry Taking Flight

Oct 5, 2013 6:03 PM

Jason Williams

TheWisconsinDepartment of Transportation released an updated report on the economic significance of the aviation industry in Wisconsin. According to the Bureau of Aeronautics, aviation-related economic activity was $6.9 billion in 2010. This more than doubles the amount from the roughly $3 billion estimate from 2002. The report also cites the spike in jobs, affected either directly or indirectly, from the industry. In 2010, job creation increased by over 50% up from 42,000 in 2002’s study to over 90,000 in 2010. This provided $3.5 billion in personal income.

Eric Aleson, County Parks and Airport Director, says this is true at the Door County Cherryland Airport also. Most of the business he says they’ve seen increase is business charter flights.

This isn’t to say there hasn’t been an increase in tourist-based flights in to and out of the airport. But, as Aleson points out that more and more businesses are finding it more cost-effective to either purchase their own planes to ferry employees between destinations, and just pay the hangar fees, or charter flights as they are needed. This, sometimes, is less expensive than flying an employee to a destination and providing lodging and/or return flights.

The largest increase over the past year, according to Aleson is larger jet traffic.

The direct impact the aviation industry has on Door County is still hard to quantify, but with an increase in traffic over the past year, positive growth seems inevitable.