Quote Originally Posted by iheartthed View Post
I'm gonna need you to cite some numbers for your "overwhelming majority" claim. I think it's more like "a significant percentage"... Which is pretty much par for the course of any airport that serves as a major hub such as Atlanta Hartsfield [[metro ATL's rapid growth is actually credited by many to the presence of the airport), Chicago O'Hare, Philadelphia International, etc.
According to a 2006 study by U of M & Detroit-WC Airport Authority, 67% visit the airport for the purpose of changing planes. Another [[estimated) 5% are bound for destinations in MI outside of Metro Detroit.
Of the 18.2 million passengers DTW handled in 2006, 13.3 million did not require services outside of the immediate airport area. I suppose we could spend several posts parsing words in order to clarify whether those figures constitute a “significant percentage” or an “overwhelming majority”.

http://www.metroairport.com/pdf/DTW_...act_Report.pdf

Again, the net economic benefit of DTW [[in addition to intangible image enhancements) is unquestionably positive. The point is that a high volume airport is not in itself a guarantee of appeal for tourists, create a de facto demand for a localized multi-billion dollar regional mass transit project, or the sole decision senior executives make when considering a corporate headquarters location.

There is Atlanta, but there is also Memphis. Prior to the era of mainstream air travel, it was already established as vital trucking & distribution center. This was later complimented by an expanded regional hub airport for Northwest. However, today it stands as a more racially divided, economically depressed urban center than it was even 20 years ago.