[Ex-Ithacan]

I guess the airport is a big plus for a small city like Ithaca, from the Ithaca Journal: http://www.theithacajournal.com/arti...text|FRONTPAGE

Study: Ithaca's airport helps economy take wing
State report links 510 jobs to facility

6:21 PM, Jul. 12, 2011


Passengers disembark from U.S. Airways flight 4608 from Philadelphia midday Tuesday at Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport. A New York State Department of Transportation study calculated that the airport generated more than $66 million of economic activity in 2009. / SIMON WHEELER / STAFF PHOTO

Written by
Rachel Stern

The Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport generated more than $66.8 million in economic activity in 2009, according to a state Department of Transportation study.

The news came as no surprise to Airport Manager Bob Nicholas. Between the local goods and services the airport buys, the jobs the airport creates and the people the airport brings into the community, Nicholas was more than aware of the economic impact, he said.

"We pretty much knew the airport is valuable," he said. "Not only is it a convenience, but a lot of what we spend to run the airport and keep it maintained is spent in the community and all of that counts toward economic activity." ..............