The regional economic impact of an airport: The case of Amsterdam SchipholAirport

The completion of the so-called 'third package' in the liberalization of Eu ropean aviation has changed the environment in which airports operate consi derably. The continued growth of air traffic has led to a public debate in many Western countries about the expansion of airport capacity in the light of the externalities emanating from these traffic nodes. In this paper we try to measure the economic impact of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on the Gre ater Amsterdam region, by means of a social accounting matrix of this regio n. The paper tries to avoid some of the pitfalls of earlier studies by usin g a counterfactual approach in measuring the economic impact. We are able t o distinguish employment created in sub-regions of the Greater Amsterdam re gion, and the education and qualification levels associated with this emplo yment. Our results indicate that the total multiplier of direct employment on Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is approximately 2: one job on the airport le ads to approximately one job in indirect and induced employment.