Gateway airport generates $685 million

Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport poured $685 million in fiscal 2010 into the economy of Maricopa and western Pinal counties and supporting nearly 4,200 jobs, according to the findings of a study by Arizona State University. Add an estimated $600 million in activity generated by two colleges and an Air Force Research Lab that share space with the airport, and the economic impact exceeds $1 billion, airport officials said. The study, released Tuesday, did not account for ASU Polytechnic, Chandler-Gilbert Community College and the lab because they operate independently of the airport. The airport's contribution to the economy is striking, considering its dramatic climb during the past two years while the nation's economy was mired in a recession, said Lee McPheters, an ASU research professor who led the study for the L. William Seidman Research Institute.

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