The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), through its Airport Consortium on Customer Trust (ACT) programme, has released a new catalogue of key business terms and standard provisions for use in airport concessions contracts.
The new product will benefit airport managers throughout the United States regardless of airport size, location, or organisational structure.
Led by US airport chief financial officers, Steer, EY Infrastructure Advisors, and Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell, the ACT Working Group on Financial Innovations sought to provide sufficient context and background to allow airport decision makers to interact with their business partners more effectively and explore the best alternatives and contractual structures for their specific airport.
“Increasingly, airport leaders need to be collaborative across the industry to address our challenges,” said Philadelphia International Airport CEO Atif Saeed. “Our partnership with AAAE, industry, thought leaders, and like-minded airports through the ACT programme has been invaluable. It provides us with an opportunity to pilot innovation, create standards, and explore sustainable ways to reimagine the airport experience together. The work produced here is an example of this collaborative thought leadership.”
The group also worked to provide airport leaders with a primer for discussions with existing and future concessionaire partners, including identifying some of the key business drivers of airport concessions and emerging trends in the industry.
The resulting document reflects the fact that each airport’s position will be unique and requires consideration of historical precedents, local market influences, legal and commercial legacy agreements, consumer preferences, and market demand. The research also reflects recent changes in the contracting environment since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights preliminary lessons learned. It provides a forward-looking view as the industry continues to return and as passenger traffic and the health of the industry improves.
With 9,000 members representing more than 850 airports, the AAAE is the world's largest professional organisation representing the individuals who work at public-use commercial and general aviation airports.
Image: Denver International Airport
