US airport privatisation: Can airports in the US be assessed by their ownership criteria?

In the US, and as is well recognised now, the original Airport Privatisation Pilot Programme produced no discernible result - with only one small airport leased, and that quickly returned to public sector control.

Until 2013 that is, when Puerto Rico's main airport - one in which "changing a light bulb required four workers, sometimes five if there was a light bulb available" - was leased to a consortium, one that is now 100% foreign-owned. It is now unrecognisable from what it then was; it can be considered a success story and an exemplar.

That should send a clear message to government, but despite an easing of leasing conditions in 2018, there has been no further take-up. Although there has been a considerable increase in public-private co-operation for construction projects.

Other airports are coming under scrutiny, including Honolulu, the premier gateway and hub in Hawaii. Honolulu is an airport that regularly receives visitors from Asia Pacific countries, where high standards of infrastructure and service are in evidence, often at fully, or partly, privatised airports.

Also Newark Liberty, one that may enter into public-private agreements for new and refurbished terminals.

But not all the better US airports are privatised - they cannot be, because there is only one of them.

Intriguingly though, one of those better examples is Ontario International in California, which has come on in leaps and bounds since 2016. That was the year that it was divorced from Los Angeles World Airports, and came within the purview of municipal authorities that take a corporatised approach to running it.

In the meantime, the US awaits a specific set of new airport policies from the president, but they firmly remain at the back of a very long 'to do' list.