Jeff Pearse at the Airports for Economic Development conference. Photo by Mike Rast Jr.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport served as the model for positive economic impact of an airport during a conference of Central and South American aviation and government officials organized by CIFAL Atlanta May 7-8.

The conference, held in the airport's Executive Conference Center, drew 23 delegates from 11 countries.

CIFAL, a joint initiative between the United Nations and Atlanta's city government, is hosting a series of airport economic development events this year.  The center organized an African airport conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, in February, another in Shanghai, China, in April, and is to host Caribbean and North American conferences in Atlanta in June.

The center's biggest upcoming initiative is the Americas Competitiveness Forum August 17-19, which they are organizing in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce.  That conference is to bring delegates from all 34 North and South American nations to Atlanta.

The “Airports for Economic Development: Latin America” conference drew delegates from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Peru.

Delegates toured airport facilities, heard presentations from Atlanta organizations involved with the airport and networked and exchanged best practices with one another.

Viviana Montenegro, CIFAL’s program manager, told GlobalAtlanta that each delegate filled out an assessment of their airport before the conference and developed an action plan to increase its productivity on the final day of the program.

She said that the goal of the program was to present Hartsfield as a working model but not all airports have the consistent revenue and financial planning of Atlanta’s. Though Atlanta's city government owns the airport, revenue generated there cannot be put toward city projects but must be spent on improvements at Hartsfield-Jackson.

“The difference between Latin America and Atlanta is that all the income (Hartsfield) has is invested in the airport itself, in other countries it’s not,” Ms. Montenegro said, adding that the goal is to provide ideas for delegates to manage resources more effectively.

“Considering the opportunities each airport has in their country, how can they improve their airport to provide more development and jobs to their region?”

Speakers included Jeff Pearse, Hartsfield-Jackson’s director of marketing and business development, who’s presentation gave reasons for the airport’s economic success.  These included a good geographic location, a vibrant regional economy in the Southeast and partnerships with major carriers such as Delta Air Lines Inc.

Mr. Pearse said that the airport and the businesses that support it create 400,000 jobs and generate $45 billion in annual revenue. This creates $2.7 billion in tax revenue for Atlanta and $15.3 billion in personal income for employees of the airport and surrounding businesses.

Marvin Toliver, manager of government affairs at the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, or MARTA, discussed the importance of transit from the airport, particularly for international travelers not familiar with Atlanta.