Although some regional airports have achieved substantial growth in recent years, mainly through new flights by low-cost airlines, there is a clearneed for the strengthening of integrated and sustainable regional development based on the creation of a flexible air transport system provided by a cooperation network between regional airports. This is expected to lead to: the maintenance, expansion, improvement, and promotion of the existingregional airports through common methods and planning; the reinforcement of economic development and competitiveness through the construction of new facilities in isolated areas and the provision for new airport connections; the achievement of better exploitation of airports and the confrontation of existing problems through the evaluation of priorities; the exchangeof knowledge and experience; the planning of common policies and the collaboration of private and public sector stakeholders on local, national, and transnational level; and to the attraction of further tourism. In order to address the above requirements, the RAIRDev (Regional Airports Interaction for Regional Development) project has been developed within the INTERREG IIIB CADSES Transnational Cooperation Programme, part-financed of the European Union. The aim of RAIRDev is the strengthening of regional development by the enhancement of regional airports role in an integrated and efficient multimodal transport system, as well as the involvement and the contribution of all stakeholders related to air transport, airport development and operation, tourism and regional economic development. The project objectives and actions are outlined. The main results of the RAIRDev projectand in particular the Development and Marketing Plans for the cases of Central Greece Airport, Ancona Falconara Airport and Zilina Airport, including the process of attracting new flights and the preliminary evaluation oftheir impact on tourism development in Magnesia Prefecture in Greece, Marche Region in Italy and Zilina district in Slovakia are described. For thecovering abstract see ITRD E145999
Samenvatting