James Laird in collaboration with Peter Mackie and Svein Braathen authored a think piece on the wider economic impacts of improved connectivity offered by regional air services. The view is that these services do offer wider economic impacts, but that parameterisation is difficult. There is insufficient evidence to date to give an estimate of the magnitude of such effects, but based on related evidence in the field it is not expected that the inclusion of such effects would alter the magnitude of any Benefit:Cost Ratio.
The full report is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/aviation-2050-the-future-of-uk-aviation-consultation-competitive-markets-reports
