Airport Social Responsibility and Regional Community Relations: Noisy Elephant in the Sky?

Abstract

Although the aviation industry is an integral component of regional economic development, aircraft noise complaints have become an increasingly contentious issue. This raises the significant question of how airports can better position themselves as socially responsible drivers of regional economic development. This study examines airport-regional community relations in one of the fastest growing airports in Australia—the Gold Coast Airport. The contributions of this paper are two-fold. First, it demonstrates the analysis of social barometers such as media reports and community attributes that can generate useful insights for airport management. Second, it highlights the need for proactive airport social responsibility measures to address the issue of aircraft-noise in a regional setting.