When we think of airports, we often think of vacation or work travel. We also think of it as a place we go to pick someone up that has come to visit us. We hardly ever stop to think about how airports work, we are just happy that they are there to take us to our destination.
My hunch is that if you ask the average person on the street who owns the airport in their city they will struggle with providing an answer. Some may guess and say "the city" and depending on the city, they may be right. However, airports are often managed by an "airport authority" that is publicly managed with a governing board of directors comprised of elected or appointed regional leaders.
I was curious about the top 10 US airports and who runs them, and created a quick reference table that also includes my hometown airport, San Diego:
Passenger wise, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the busiest airport around the country. If you're wondering how Atlanta has more travelers than New York or Los Angeles, don't forget that both New York and Los Angeles are serviced by 3 airports each: New York is serviced by JFK, La Guardia and Newark; and Los Angeles is serviced by LAX, Burbank and Long Beach.
While, Atlanta has the most passengers traveling through it, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport has the highest operating expenses even though it's only the 4th busiest airport:
It takes a lot to get airports running smoothly so that we can check in, get through security and make our flights in time for take-off. How airports are governed is just one piece of the puzzle. Airport management is impacted by various supply and demand factors and like the airline industry, airports were hit particularly hard during Covid-19 and are still bouncing back. McKinsey recently reported that during the pandemic "aircraft movements and passenger traffic...plummeted to less than half their usual volumes," and also resulted in airport concession stores closing permanently.
Even though government grants helped to soften the blow of the pandemic, they were only temporary relief measures and the decline in passenger and aircraft activity continues to have residual effects on airport cash flows. Now more than in pre-pandemic times, airports across the country are thinking about ways to diversify and increase their future cash flows to ensure they deliver seamless and safe travel experiences.
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