Rising Giants

From the Desk of the Editor in Chief

This month, we take a close look at a phenomenon that may be coming soon to a major airport near you: the rise of the Aerotropolis.

Some of the highest-volume air hubs, including Memphis, Paris, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, already have established a very high standard for Aerotropolis wannabes. These global “airport cities” have parleyed their busy runways into macro-economic development engines that are transforming their regions.

Our Aerotropolis tour also took us to Detroit and Indianapolis, both of which have ambitious development strategies centered on their airports, and even to the dunes of Dubai. One look at Indianapolis International Airport’s spectacular new

$1-billion terminal, pictured on our cover, should be enough to convince anyone that our Hoosier friends are determined to move to the top of the airport cities list.

Speaking of rising giants, our Governor’s Report throws the spotlight on a state that registered the most significant across-the-board gains in this year’s annual Rankings Report. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert details a common-sense approach that has been rewarded with remarkable growth in the Beehive State.

Gov. Herbert also notes with delight that Disney just finished filming an Edgar Rice Burroughs epic about Mars in the state’s starkest red-rocked landscape. We’ll take that as confirmation that Utah’s potential is positively galactic.