Are you getting enough? Concerns about airport revenues

Abstract

Many airports rely on data received from external sources to bill aeronautical charges for the use of their facilities. Billings apply to landing and terminal fees, which are intended to recover the costs associated with constructing and operating airport infrastructure, including runway systems and terminal buildings. This paper addresses the question of whether airports are ‘getting enough’ in fees for the use of their facilities. By independently observing and recording aircraft landings at a major North American airport and tracing these movements through the airport's billing system, it was observed that the data provided by outside parties to charge for the use of facilities were both incomplete and inaccurate. This means that not all revenues were collected because they were either not billed or incorrectly billed. The results of this investigation suggest that a case can be made for an airport acquiring its own system for capturing and recording aircraft movements. This will ensure correct billings for the use of airport runways and terminal buildings.