As far as economic engines go, it’s long been known that Memphis International Airport has the power of a 747.

A new study released this week confirmed the airport’s muscle, estimating that Memphis International pumps $28.6 billion into the region’s economy and provides, directly or indirectly, 34.3 percent – or one in three – local jobs.

The economic impact study was commissioned by the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority and conducted by the Sparks Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Memphis.

The new total shows a steady increase from past economic studies. The airport’s impact in 1998 was calculated at $12.9 billion and in 2005 at $20.7 billion

Larry Cox, airport president and CEO, said the most recent numbers prove what has long been acknowledged in the area – that the airport provides a critical role for Mid-South employment and commerce.

Cox announced the latest figures at the annual Airport Cities World Conference and Exhibition this week in Athens, Greece. Memphis will host the event in 2011.

“This latest economic impact study confirms that the Memphis International Airport is the most important driver of the regional economy and provides a solid foundation for future economic growth and prosperity for all of our citizens and stakeholders,” Cox wrote from Athens in an e-mail.

Go cargo

Not surprisingly, FedEx and its cargo operations can be credited with much of the airport’s economic impact. As the world’s busiest air cargo airport for 17 years in a row, Memphis International is a global model for moving freight, with FedEx accounting for 93.6 percent of all cargo volume.

Jeff Wallace is an economist and the professor of applied economic research at the Sparks Bureau who compiled the study’s results. What struck Wallace was how significant the airport and its largest tenant are to the overall picture of Memphis.

“If you were to remove Memphis International Airport and FedEx from our economy, we’d be in a world of hurt,” Wallace said. “What surprised me most was how much the impact has grown, and the size of the economy that the airport and FedEx represent. Outside of that, the Memphis MSA (metropolitan statistical area) has not seen much job growth over the past few years.

“The transportation, distribution and logistics sector, that’s really been the backbone of our economy over the past few years.”

Cargo accounted for $27.1 billion of the total economic impact and 208,319 of the 220,000 jobs related to the airport, according to the study.

The passenger sector accounted for $1.3 billion of the airport’s total economic impact and 10,307 jobs. And airport construction projects generated $138 million toward the overall impact, highlight by the new air traffic control tower and reconstruction of the east-west runway.

An additional component of the study included a survey of area businesses whose responses were used as supporting evidence of the hard data to give some perspective beyond the numbers. Wallace said this year’s survey had 125 respondents, down significantly from 420 respondents in the 2005 survey.

Age of Aerotropolis

The study’s findings bolster business and civic leaders’ concept of Memphis as an aerotropolis, the catchy phrase coined by University of North Carolina business professor John Kasarda.

An aerotropolis is an “airport city” in which a region’s commerce largely depends on the airport. Kasarda for a few years has called Memphis a true aerotropolis, and the Greater Memphis Chamber has recently trademarked a new slogan for promoting the city as “Memphis: America’s Aerotropolis. Where Runway, Road, Rail and River Merge.”

Arnold Perl, MSCAA chairman and a partner at Ford and Harrison LLP, said the recent findings enhance that marketing campaign.

“As we’ve transitioned from America’s Distribution Center to America’s Aerotropolis, it really is a merger of the four R’s – runway, road, river and rail – but the lynchpin of those clearly is the airport with its expanded and still-growing economic impact,” Perl said.

The study, soon to be available on the airport’s Web site, will serve another purpose. Martin Lipinski, director of the Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute at the University of Memphis, said the study is a cornerstone of an infrastructure study that the IFTI is compiling with the help of Lexington, Mass.-based IHS Global Insight.

Lipinski said the airport study will tie the city’s transportation assets in with its warehouse distribution facilities, shedding light on other investments within the city, from industries like the railroads.

All in all, Lipinski noted, the airport’s economic impact is felt with each plane, truck, train and barge that finds its way into, out of and through Memphis.