Airport attorneys spend considerable time drafting and negotiating airport contracts that involve specialized legal and business issues. Some are general commercial issues, while others are unique to airports. As governmental entities, airports are subject to a variety of governmental law principles that can affect their contracts for commercial services. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Progr...

Understanding the permissible use of airport revenue is one of the most common legal issues faced by airport management. While there are some clear lines, there are several categories (such as utility fees) of potential expenditures of airport revenue that are not as clearly defined. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP Legal Research Digest 40: Permissible Uses of Airport Property ...

Commercial ground transportation at U.S. airports includes public transit, door-to-door shuttle van service, charter buses, limousines, rental cars, taxicabs, hotel courtesy shuttles, wheel chair services, and courier operators. Technological developments, such as transportation network companies, car-sharing operations, and driverless cars, have added more options and challenges for airport groun...

Large-scale, complex airport construction projects have the same issues as construction projects on a smaller scale, but they present a series of specialized legal issues. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP Legal Research Digest 38: Legal Issues Related to Large-Scale Airport Construction Projects focuses on those legal issues causing the most significant risks during planning, de...

The TRB' Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP LRD 37: Legal Issues Relating to Airports Promoting Competition explores 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 concentration of air carriers and fixed-base operators (FBO...

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Legal Research Digest 36:  Legal Issues Related to Implementation and Operation of SMS for Airports  focuses on the legal issues that are encountered in the operation of Safety Management Systems (SMS) in airports. SMS is broadly defined as a formal, systematic approach to identify hazards and control risks to enhance safety. The objectiv...

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Legal Research Digest 36: Legal Issues Related to Implementation and Operation of SMS for Airports provides a review of potential legal issues, an in-depth analysis of identified issues, and the benefits experienced by airports that develop and operate a Safety Management Systems (SMS). Implementation of SMS in the airport and aviation sector has b...

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Legal Research Digest 35: Legal Considerations in the Funding and Development of Intermodal Facilities at Airports provides background on multimodal or intermodal facilities, funding challenges, and a review of the guidance and decisions the Federal Aviation Administration has made pertaining to intermodal facility development at airports. As surfa...

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Legal Research Digest 34: Airport Public Health Preparedness and Response: Legal Rights, Powers, and Duties addresses the legal issues concerning the measures to detect communicable diseases, regulations to control communicable diseases, methods for decontamination, emergency legal preparedness, privacy, and potential sources of liability. This dig...

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Legal Research Digest 33: Overview of Airport Duties and Standards of Care in Airfield Accident Cases provides an overview of the legal duties and standards of care that may create liability when operating a public airfield. It discusses negligence principles and reviews duties and standards of care in an airfield accident context, including the ex...