How important is T.F. Green?

Flying high or low at Green, R.I. moves forwardWhile the trend for passenger traffic at T.F. Green Airport has been poor for the last three-and-a-half years, Rhode Island's economy continues to move forward. / Sources: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, R.I. Airport Corp.
Flying high or low at Green, R.I. moves forwardWhile the trend for passenger traffic at T.F. Green Airport has been poor for the last three-and-a-half years, Rhode Island's economy continues to move forward. / Sources: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, R.I. Airport Corp.

One of the justifications for the nearly $200 million extension of the runway at T.F. Green Airport was the important role that the facility currently plays and is expected to play in economic development in the state. But just how important is T.F. Green to Rhode Island’s economic health?

A look at passenger traffic in the last few years in and out of the Ocean State’s only major commercial airport, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Economic Activity Index for the state reveal a surprising lack of connection between the two.

With a correlation of 0.076 – with one meaning that two sets of statistics move in lockstep, up and down, and negative one means they move in lockstep in opposite directions – it doesn’t look like the general decline of passenger traffic at Green has much to do with the state’s improving economy at all.

Now, as the saying goes, correlation (positive or negative) does not mean causation. And a large part of the justification for the extension of the runway at T.F. Green by the Federal Aviation Administration is the need to increase safety buffer zones there. But there is no question that the business community has been pushing for the extension for years on the assumption that it will improve the state’s economy. Just goes to show that all assumptions need to be tested on a regular basis. •

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  1. this is from Bob Weiss’s WBZ show “Nine new airlines serving Boston in the last decade have added $1.4 billion to the Massachusetts economy. Hundreds of new jobs have been added to catering and other airport related services”

    And thisl ook at our economy tries to make the point that maybe we don’t need better service or a bigger airport? If we had the service we had from 1997-2007 at PVD can you imagine how much better the economy would be here? This company must have ties to Massport!