Introduction

For the last 20 years, the airport management has changed: mainly operated by public entities in the past, airports are more and more operated by private companies.  Governments are eager to privatize these strategic assets, in order to improve services and finance airport expansion and renovation programs.

Upon completion participants will, inter alia, understand to what extent the airport/airlines relationship has changed in the past two decades and what the impact has been for the airports. They will also identify the challenging environment and evolving business models (e.g. new sources of revenues).

 For the conduct of negotiations in this field (contracts, concessions, licenses, associations, subsidies, improvement of services, etc.) between airports and their stakeholders, it is necessary to understand the legal/regulatory framework (EU/ICAO/FAA), in which the airport and related shareholders/stakeholders operate.

The course provides an insight into how an airport is operated, in three parts: 1) Legal status of the airport; 2) legal/contractual relationship between airport operator and stakeholders; and 3) Airport regulations.

Course Content

The course is divided into three parts:

I. Legal status of the airport
A. Airport ownership
B. Airport management

II. Legal relationship between the airport operator and the stakeholders
A. Airlines
B. Ground -handling operators
C. Retailers & other non-aeronautical operators
D. Airport contractors
E. Government

III.  Airport regulation
A. Operational regulations
B. Economic regulations

Learning Objectives

The overall objective of this course is to provide participants with a broad legal understanding of how the airport is operated and regulated and how it deals with its users and clients.

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Identify who owns and who operates airports, worldwide;

• Define a concession agreement scheme and its main provisions;

• Understand the evolution of the airport industry since air transport deregulation;

• Understand to what extent the airport/airlines relationship has changed in the past two decades and the impact thereof on the airports’ position and prospects;

• Identify the challenging environment and evolving business models that encourage airport managers to focus on various sources of revenues and to innovate;

• Understand the specificities of the airport economic regulation and the various schemes applied worldwide.

Who should take this course

• General Managers / Executive / Finance / Commercial Directors and staff
• Airport general counsel / in-house lawyers
• Civil Aviation Authority staff
• Airport consultants and business partners, such as airport service providers
• Academics specialized in air transport/air law, interested in the policies and practices of airport operations

Pre-requisites

Participants are kindly requested to bring a laptop to the course to access course material which will only be provided in electronic format.

Duration

2 days, starting on 9:00 on the first day and ending on 17:00 on the last day.