Business View Magazine | September 2019

79 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2019 a great financial condition because we do have businessmen and women who sit on the board. We have about 54 employees; we have our own police force here, as well. The only things we contract with the city for are aircraft rescue and firefighting personnel. Other than that, everything is self- contained at the Airport.” In fact, rather than spending the city’s money, the Airport’s economic impact on the Rio Grande Valley economy is considerable. According to a recent study conducted by the Aviation Division of the Texas Department of Transportation, the Valley International’s direct impact to the region consists of 518 jobs and an annual output of $96.2 million. With the addition of capital improvement and visitor impacts, the Airport provides a total of 4,540 jobs with a payroll of $148.1 million, and a $432.7 million impact on the local economy. “I don’t think there’s an airport that’s blowing up like Valley International in the last few years,” Esterly states. And the numbers prove it. In 2018, Valley International had a total of 41,291 airfield VALLEY INTERNAT IONAL A I RPORT