Airport Financial Management

Aim

This course provides participants with a thorough framework for optimizing financial management and capital programming by applying proven investor engagement principles. The course also highlights ways to ensure assets are well managed in support of short and long-term strategic goals.  Participants will be encouraged to view airport financial management in a holistic way, noting the complex relationships that airports must navigate with air carriers and other aviation stakeholders, including the community and region and, in some cases, with shareholders.

Participants will be expected to challenge conventional thinking, with attention to the growing role of joint venture and concession partnership activities in delivering airport products and services, together with the potential use of private equity to deliver strategic investments. They will also be encouraged to become familiar with ICAO and ACI guidance on airport governance.

Learning Objectives

Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:

• Analyze the role of long-term financial planning to support airport development efforts and achieve shareholder return-on-investment obligations
• Understand financial management principles and airport industry best practices
• Apply strategic methods to manage, direct, and control the efficiency and effectiveness of capital resource over the life cycle of the airport business
• Understand corporate financial reporting requirements and the steps taken in deriving the airport’s bottom line
• Analyze the dynamic changes in capital sourcing and investment management practices associated with both short-term project and long-term infrastructure finance
• Explain the role of new airport ownership models, including Private Equity Placement and Public Private Partnership (PPP) among the latest joint ventures and concession arrangements
• Examine the airport’s role in promoting social responsibility and the growing commitment to environmental sustainability

Target Audience

• Airport General Managers and Executive Directors
• Airport Financial Directors, Managers and staff
• Airport Investors
• Airport Financial Analysts and Consultants
• Institutional and Third-party Investment Managers

 Course content

• Aviation industry as a driver of the global economy and the airport’s pivotal role in supporting this dynamic sector
• Critical airport/airline relationship and its sometimes adversarial nature
• Statistical analysis of the impact of the global pandemic on the airport and its stakeholders
• Capital structure models (public enterprise vs concession vs fully private)
• Legal aspects of financial management, including ICAO principles, international norms, and domestic legislative obligations
• Advantages / disadvantages of typical financial decision-making tools
• Enterprise Risk Management concepts
• Principles, key terms, and analytics used in assessment of project proposals, including techniques related to project feasibility, evaluation methods, alternative assessment criteria, and investment structures available to public and private airports
• Communications tools and presentation methods for engaging investors
• Airport best-practices through examples from both private and public airports