Time to rethink US airport funding

Recently, Airport Investor Monthly posed the question "Is management outsourcing the answer to the growing need for privately-run airport operational activities in the United States?" On a similar theme, Bob Poole, Director of Transportation Policy at the Reason Foundation in the US, argues that given the impending collision between reduced federal funding and large unmet airport investment needs, it is high time to deregulate airports.

Growing political concern about the fiscal condition of the federal government has prompted a flurry of activity by US airports, calling for a fundamental rethink of traditional means of airport funding, and in particular federal Airport Improvement Programme (AIP) grants and the federally-controlled local passenger facility charge (PFC).

The basic problem is that with the federal budget essentially out of control due largely to entitlement programmes that Congress is thus far unwilling to tackle, there are increasing pressures to reduce the deficit by cutting back discretionary programmes.