Rosta CH 11
Review Questions
- You are the executive director of a small rural airport. A local corporation has approached you and asked whether it can rent a hangar at the facility for its corporate jet, a Lear jet 45. The Lear jet seats 11 passengers, including the flight crew. Will you need to obtain FAA certification before you can allow the corporation to begin using the airport?
One of Part 139 certification requirements requires that regardlessof whether an airport is considered publicly or privately owned, it must be certified by the FAA if the airport intends to offer scheduled air carrier operations in aircraft designed to carry 10 or more passengers. Therefore as an executive director of the airport, I would need to obtain FAA cortication before allowing the cooperation to begin using the airport.
- Same question as above, but this time, you are considering adding a terminal so that an air carrier can commence regularly scheduled flights to and from the airport, using a small fleet of Beechcraft 1900s. The Beechcraft 1900 can seat up to 19 passengers, including the flight crew. Will you be required to apply for certification from the FAA before adding the new terminal?
If the airport was initially certified by FAA, there is no need to apply for another certification before adding a new terminal. The only thing required is the airport to update existing Airport Certification Manuals (ACMs) to incorporate several new elements that is, the terminal extension.
- What are the barriers to privatization that exist when an airport has received grants from the AIP?
The condition of receiving grant funds is that an airport must agree that all revenue generated by the airport will be used toward the airport and that the grant funds will be paid back if the airport is ever sold. This creates two significant barriers to privatization. First, by accepting grant funds, an airport is effectively forbidden from extracting profits from the airport’s operations. Second, any airport that received these federal grants must pay those funds back if the airport is privatized. This would divert a large share of any potential sales price to repay the federal government for funds issued to the airport under the grant program.
- You are the manager of an airport that received grant funds from the AIP. The port authority, which owns and operates the airport, has decided to sign a lease with a private company for operation of the airport. The port authority will be paid $10 million, plus a small percentage of all revenue generated by the airport over the terms of the lease. The port authority has asked for your opinion as to whether the grants funds received from the AIP will need to be repaid to the FAA. What should your response be?
The condition of receiving grant funds is that an airport must agree that all revenue generated by the airport will be used towards the airport and that the grant funds will be paid back if the airport is ever sold.
- The city council has decided to build a municipal airport and has solicited your advice as to how to manage the airport’s operations. What are the different types and management models that the city might use, and what are the benefits of each?
Cities and counties control municipal airports using a variety of different management models. A department or administrative agency of the local government directly manages some municipal airports. Under this approach, the city council and mayor cede their decision-making authority to the administrative agency. If a city wishes to retain more control over the airport, it may give the city council or the mayor veto power over the decisions of the administrative agency that runs the airport.
The city council should do staff implementing of the organizations and coordinate their duties to optimize efficiency and effectiveness of the airport operations. This involves having a competent human resource management team that will work in hand with the information management team to ensure the airport offers efficient services. This will in turn improve the financial performance of the municipal airport and regional advantage over other existing municipal airports.