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Background ere are over 4,000 airports in the country and most of these airports are owned by governments. A 2003 sur- vey conducted by Airports Council InternationalâNorth America concluded that city ownership accounts for 38 percent, followed by regional airports at 25 percent, single county at 17 percent, and multi-jurisdictional at 9 percent. Primary legal services to these airports are, in most cases, provided by municipal, county, and state attorneys. Research reports and summaries produced by the Airport Continuing Legal Studies Project and published as ACRP Legal Research Digests are developed to assist these attorneys seeking to deal with the myriad of legal problems encountered during airport development and operations. Such substantive areas as eminent domain, environmental concerns, leasing, contracting, security, insurance, civil rights, and tort liability present cutting- edge legal issues where research is useful and indeed needed. Airport legal research, when conducted through the TRBâs legal studies process, either collects primary data that usually are not available elsewhere or performs analysis of existing literature. Foreword e widespread consolidation that has occurred within the U.S. airline industry (leaving just four majors or net- work carriers), as well as the rise of several air carrier business models (including âUltra Low Cost Carriersâ that o en y only one ight to certain cities a few days a week), has fundamentally changed the nature of air ser- vice and the competition among air carriers at airports. Consolidation also has occurred in the xed-base operator (FBO) arena and competition among these service providers has been signi cantly altered or elimi- nated. Airport operators have an obligation under their federal grant assurances to provide access to air carriers and FBOs, and certain categories of airports must develop competition plans. Airports also must not grant exclusive rights to aeronautical service providers. ese obligations on airports to not âunjustly dis- criminateâ those seeking to provide aeronautical services can be challenging for airports to meet these obligations while also addressing the needs of the gen- eral aviation community in which they serve. e same can apply at commercial service airports that may not have the appropriate capacity to properly serve potential new entrants. is digest serves to provide to airport lawyers, management, and sta the legally permissible means and methods of encouraging and accommodating competition at U.S. airports. It discusses the history of how competition has been addressed by government and airports and provides the context of the concentra- tion of air carriers and FBOs, the accommodation of air carriers with diering business models, and avoiding the grant of exclusive rights when aeronautical service providers merge. Legal Issues Relating to Airports Promoting Competition This digest was prepared under ACRP Project 11-01, âLegal Aspects of Airport Programs,â for which the Transportation Research Board (TRB) is the agency coordinating the research. Under Topic 09-02, this digest was prepared by Eric T. Smith, Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell, LLP, Washington, DC. The responsible program officer is Marci A. Greenberger. JUNE 2019 AIRPORT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM ACRP LRD37LEGAL RESEARCH DIGEST
