By Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Sun

Nevada airports are better economic drivers than those in nearly every other state in the country, a report prepared for Airports Council International-North America says.

“The Economic Impact of Commercial Airports in 2010” quantifies the contributions of 490 commercial airports in the United States.

Reno-Tahoe airport adds to Nevada's economy. Photo/LTN

The analysis, prepared by Cincinnati-based CDM Smith, says airports multiply a community’s economic output — particularly at a facility like McCarran International Airport. McCarran stands out because it has more airlines than most other airports, more employees to handle large volumes of customers and serves a tourism economy that includes hundreds of jobs spun off from airport operations.

The report says California airports produced the most economic output in 2010, at $158 billion. That state’s 29 airports provided 1.4 million jobs with an annual payroll of $47.1 billion.

Nevada was ninth on the 50-state list, with economic output of $40.5 billion. The state’s five commercial airports provided 313,640 jobs with an annual payroll of $11.8 billion, the report said.

But on average, Nevada’s airports produced economic output of $8.1 billion per airport, second only to Georgia, which had nine airports that produced $8.9 billion per airport on average.

Georgia is home to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the nation’s busiest.

The five Nevada airports included in the CDM study were McCarran, Reno-Tahoe International Airport, North Las Vegas Airport, Elko Regional Airport and Boulder City Municipal Airport.

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