State of the Industry 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The state of the airport industry and the tenant companies which are a critical part is at best tentative, yet far removed from the economic shock of 18 months ago. Technology is having an impact as is cost control, but a general economic resurgence is necessary to offset the losses in air service, income, and business aviation — all dramatic. The focus here is on airports and tenants. We kick off with results of an interview with Catherine M. Lang — the industry calls her ‘Kate’ — for a view from the big picture regulatory side, and funding. On page 14, NATA’s Jim Coyne offers some thoughts on the state of the industry from the aviation services perspective.

From her office on the sixth floor at 800 Independence Avenue, eight blocks from the nation’s Capitol, Lang offers the agency’s perspective when asked about the impasse in Congress in getting long-term FAA/system reauthorization accomplished.

Says Lang, “I don’t know how interested folks are that it makes the work of a bunch of bureaucrats a lot harder, and it certainly does that. But I think for all of us at FAA, we’re absolutely aware of what it does to disrupt construction and financial planning for airports, particularly at a time when the economy is so [fragile].

“You really want your federal funding source to be stable and reliable. It’s not hypothetical what this is doing to the financial health of airports.”
Lang has been with FAA since 1992, and she relates that when Administrations change, it has an impact.

“Every new Administration brings new strategic leadership. They also bring different degrees of emphasis on transportation. The last Administration didn’t have a huge emphasis on transportation; the emphasis it had I would describe as more ideological, and it was really toward the tail end.

Things like market-based pricing; market-driven mechanisms, as opposed to the traditional brick and mortar and building capacity. It was more about managing demand.

“With this Administration there is a difference. It is a very practical, problem-solving, open intent — to have spirited debate.

“You’re going to have a very different focus on the environment and our stewardship responsibilities. It’s about solving problems. It isn’t about treaties on federalism and the role of the federal government versus free enterprise.

“This Administration set out as goal number one to resolve the contract with NATCA. That got done. That’s huge, when you consider how rancorous the previous eight years had been.”

Body Scanners, Etc.

After Congress passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act right after 9/11, much was mandated; little was funded. Yet, following the incident in Detroit last Christmas, full-body scanners are being funded and installed on a grand scale. An interesting aside to this development is that many airports have issues with the installations, be it cost or accommodation.

Comments Lang, “You know, it is worrisome. There is a rule of thumb we have in this office, which is: When we put in a requirement, we have to think about how it gets paid for; whether it’s a requirement that we put out to our field that they have to do, or whether it’s a requirement at the airports.

“Today we have a whole team of people in— our safety inspectors from all over the country — figuring out how we’re going to in a common sense way achieve getting wildlife assessments done at general aviation airports. And I am dead serious. We make sure our folks can keep up with what the requirement is; and we’re going to do it in a way to make sure that we help pay the freight to get it done.

“Congress has put limitations on what the grant in aid program can do from our office to help airports retrofit things.”