The survey was organized by Sociometrica and took into account a highly representative sample of the resident population in the Florence-Prato-Pistoia area: 88% of those interviewed declared they were in favour of developing the airport which they considered fundamental or useful.
There were no significant differences between the residents of the various municipal areas (91% Florence, 82% Prato, 92% Pistoia and 77% in the other municipal areas in the Plain), mainly because of the economic development of the area (34%), tourism (32%), but also because of the importance it holds for a city like Florence (12%) and job possibilities (7%). Everyone backed the idea of a better airport. Over half those interviewed (a representative sample of Florence, Prato, Pistoia and the 4 municipal areas of the Plain), exactly 50.8%, considered that a larger airport is fundamental, without which there is no possibility of developing the area. In addition to these, others interviewed considered definite consolidation of the airport very useful (thus arriving at a total of 88% of those in favour). Those who considered growth irrelevant represent 6.3% of those interviewed, while 5.6% considered it critical, problematical and negative.
These results are reasonably homogeneous among residents of the different areas taken into account and even among residents of the Plain those favourable accounted for the great majority: 77%, while those against it were 13%.
Unemployed, business and shop-owners among those most in favour. Of the social categories interviewed, the unemployed were most in favour (94.1%), followed by business and shop-owners, hoteliers/artisans accounted for 93.5%.
Perception of airport space. Perception of the physical space occupied by the airport. The airport currently covers an area of 15 hectares, but 54.8% of those interviewed had no idea of this and 30.6% thought that it occupies a space exceeding 200 hectares while 6% thought it covers over 1000 hectares. Only 6.6% replied correctly: less than 200 hectares. Therefore the prevailing perception is that it is an awkward presence that takes up a great deal of room and connects very few cities. Those interviewed who are resident in the Plain did not diverge from this perception, indeed the number of those who thought the airport occupies an area of over 1000 hectares is even higher.
Preference for a longer runway. The majority of those interviewed, 40.9%, were in favour of a 2400 metre runway and 26.4% preferred it not to exceed 2000 metres. Only 17.2% wanted to maintain the current runway length of 1700 metres. The percentages of residents in the Plain perfectly reflect the averages for the area and do not diverge from them.
Virtually no distinction between residents in Florence and the others. A more general consideration indicates that there are no significant differences between residents in the municipality of Florence and those in the Plain, Prato and Pistoia, showing there is a unanimous opinion on this issue.
