Airport Privatization: Issues and Options for Congress
Congressional Research Service 3
prices and fees, but passenger interests are usually not represented formally in discussions of
privatization.
Airport owners, who are usually local governments, might opt for privatization if they could
extract money for general use. However, federal regulations generally require that lease or sale
revenue from airport privatization be used only for airport purposes (unless the majority of
airlines agree otherwise, under the AIPP). On the other hand, privatization involves surrendering
control of an economically important facility. By reducing or eliminating responsibilities of the
public agency or authority that owns the airport, it may lead to the loss of public-sector jobs.
Hence, a public-sector owner may see few benefits from selling or leasing an airport to a private
operator unless the facility is losing money—and in that case, private investors might not find the
airport an attractive investment. The federal Airport Investment Partnership Program, discussed
below, is meant to encourage privatization by granting certain exemptions to public-sector owners
with regard to revenue diversion and other obligations.
Air carriers, including both scheduled passenger airlines and cargo airlines, would like to keep
their costs low. They also want to have some control over how airport revenues are used,
especially to ensure that the fees paid by themselves and their customers are used for airport-
related purposes. Their interest in low landing fees and low rents for ticket counters and other
facilities may be contrary to the interest of potential private operators in increasing revenue. At
the same time, however, air carriers have an interest in ensuring that the airports they use are well
maintained and carefully managed. They might have reason to support a proposed privatization if
they thought it would result in lower charges, better airport services, or increased efforts to
promote the airport.
Private investors and operators expect a financial return on their investments. They will be
looking above all at growth potential, such as opportunities to bring additional flights to the
airport, to earn additional lease revenue by improving amenity offerings such as shopping and
dining for passengers, or to draw more freight traffic by offering lower fees or improved facilities.
If they attempt to increase profitability by raising landing fees or rents, that may bring them into
conflict with air carriers using the airport.
The federal government, represented by the Department of Transportation (DOT) and DOT’s
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has been directed by Congress to engage private capital
in aviation infrastructure development and reduce reliance on federal grants and subsidies.
However, FAA also has statutory mandates to maintain the safety and integrity of the national air
transportation system and to enforce compliance with commitments, known as “grant
assurances,” that airports have made to obtain grants under the federal Airport Improvement
Program (AIP).