The aviation industry is in the throes of some technological advances that could radically alter the landscape for

certain types of air travel. Aircraft technol ogy advancements are enabling smaller craft to run both more efficiently and qui etly, and are making possible the next generation of air traffic management tech nology. Combined these improvements promise to make better use of existing airpo rt facilities and air travel space but also should enable safe, reliable air tra vel to hundreds of airports not served by commercial airlines today. The purpose of this project is to examine the repercussions of the anticipated a viation technology advances upon state and local economies. A prime focus of thi s project, therefore, is to identify the probable reactions of business traveler s and businesses alike to these anticipated changes in aviation technology. In spite of dramatic advances in communications technology, the need for busines s managers to conduct face-to-face meetings has increased over the past three de cades. Numerous factors, however, impair the ability of business people to trave l by air, as well as increasing their business costs. These factors include redu ced air service provided by commercial carriers, inconvenience and delays caused by stringent security measures at major jetports, increasing flight delays at t he country s busiest airports, and the high cost of urban real estate around comme rcial airports. These issues are especially problematic in the New York metropol itan area, with the three commercial jetports (JFK International, Newark Liberty International, and LaGuardia) consistently among the airports with the greatest delays. The technologies discussed above suggest many businesses that rely upon face-to-face meetings may become less tied to certain core locales than they ar e today. Thus, a secondary focus of the study is to investigate how the behavior of establishments most affected by the technological change will alter the geog raphy of economic development patterns. Further, public policy makers at state and local levels play key roles in determ ining the extent to which new aviation technologies are implemented, and thus wh at air travel alternatives are made available to establishments. While the benef its of airports such as increased economic activity are distributed regionally, their negative externalities often are felt only locally. As a result, in many s tates local zoning boards, rather than state authorities, control the types of i mprovements that can be made to local airports. Local political pressures thus c an make it difficult to implement even minor airport improvements (sometimes imp rovements that do not affect the fundamental operation of the airport, such as t he construction of additional hangars). This is especially the case when local d ecision-makers are faced with negative aspects of airport improvement and lack a n understanding of the positive economic effects of airport improvement, creatin g a disjoint decision-making process. The proposed research is designed to help bridge the information gap by demonstrating the positive potential impacts on st ate and local economies of new business aviation capabilities, thus effectively informing the judgment of policy makers.