New AASHTO Report: General Aviation Supports 1.33 Million Jobs and $339.2 Billion in U.S. Economic Output

A fourth-edition report titled The Impact of General Aviation on State and Local Economies estimates that general aviation supports 1.33 million jobs nationwide, $107.5 billion in labor income, and $339.2 billion in total economic output, with a $178.1 billion contribution to U.S. gross domestic product. The national figures come from a 2025 PricewaterhouseCoopers economic study based on 2023 data.

The 68-page report was produced jointly by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Alliance for Aviation Across America, and the National Association of State Aviation Officials. It updates state-level figures from the previous 2023 report and covers employment, payroll, economic output, airports, pilots, and aircraft across all 50 states. It notes that more than 4,400 public-use airports are accessible to general aviation, compared with 549 airports served by scheduled commercial airlines.

State profiles in the report examine airport roles in business travel, agriculture, health care, emergency response, flight training, and disaster relief. Recent airport investment highlighted includes $18.9 million in Kansas funding announced earlier this year for 53 airport projects. The fourth edition also adds sections on advanced air mobility, uncrewed aircraft systems, alternative-powered aircraft, and sustainable aviation fuel programs in several states.

Alliance for Aviation Across America Executive Director Devin Osting said, "For thousands of communities, general aviation airports are an essential part of the broader transportation system, connecting people and businesses to jobs, markets, health care, emergency services, and destinations across the country. This report gives state and local transportation leaders the data and examples they need to show how those airports contribute to a prosperous economy and a connected, resilient national transportation network."

This kind of periodic economic-impact study belongs to a category state and local transportation agencies rely on when general aviation lacks the passenger-count metrics that commercial airports generate automatically. With 4,400 public-use airports open to general aviation against 549 served by scheduled airlines, the state-by-state jobs and output figures become the primary evidence base for funding and planning decisions at facilities that otherwise produce little standardized economic data.

The inclusion of advanced air mobility, uncrewed aircraft systems, alternative-powered aircraft, and sustainable aviation fuel sections in this edition signals that state aviation offices are folding newer aircraft categories into the same economic-justification framework used for traditional general aviation activity like flight training and business travel.

What happens next depends on how individual state transportation departments use these updated figures in budget cycles, and whether the Kansas-style project funding cited in the report becomes a template other states point to when making the case for airport investment.