Airport Economic Zones Research Report

Gatwick Airport commissioned Coast to Capital to produce a report which sought to understand how leading domestic and international examples of airports work with their surrounding regions to promote themselves and attract investment. The purpose was to provide an evidenced baseline for future consideration of this in the region around Gatwick Airport, and stimulate discussion among stakeholders around common approaches. The report acted as a first step for a conversation which has continued through Gatwick’s annual regional economic summits.

The report looked first at five domestic examples of airports and their local economies working collaboratively. We looked at a number of metrics for each airport economic zone to understand how they are constituted and operate. These included aspects such as governance, function, geography, infrastructure, industry bases and innovation capacity. Analysis also took specific local authorities within the wider zones and conducted a comparative assessment of how the local economies compared and whether this produced learnings for Gatwick. For the six international airport economic zones the report looked at, we considered similar metrics as well as how these areas fitted in to their national economic context and the role they took in inward investment and trade.