U.S. airports that receive assistance from the federal government are required to comply with a number of obligations imposed by federal law. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program’s ACRP Legal Research Digest 21: Compilation of DOT and FAA Airport Legal Determinations and Opinion Letters as of December 31, 2023 covers legal matters that include the reasonableness of contractual terms, leasing practices, airport rules and regulations, airport charges imposed on aeronautical users, including airline...

Customer facility charges (CFCs) are imposed by airport proprietors on customers of rental car companies at airports to pay for capital and operating costs of rental car facilities. CFCs have relatively little federal regulatory oversight, and most are implemented through local municipal acts and/or contractual arrangements. Recently, challenges to the imposition and use of CFCs and other airport fees and charges have been mounted in several states. ACRP Legal Research Digest 45: Airport Customer Facilit...

The collapse in U.S. air traffic during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates the speed with which a severe public health emergency can devastate the air travel industry. It further illustrates how quickly an airport operator may have to react to a public health crisis. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP Legal Research Digest 44: Airports Responding to Public Health Emergencies: Legal Considerations is designed to help airport sponsors and other stakeholders in the airport indus...

The deployment of telecommunication systems, management of networks, and dealings with telecommunication or information service providers, airlines, other tenants, concessionaires, and passengers create multiple legal issues for airport operators. The Airport Cooperative Highway Research Program's ACRP Legal Research Digest 43: Legal Considerations for Telecommunications at Airports examines federal requirements for various aspects of telecommunications at airports, including both current issues and thos...

As technology evolves, airports and their partners collect more data from passengers, employees, tenants, concessionaires, airlines, and others. This data is used in many ways, including for facility management, security, ground transportation, marketing, understanding passenger preferences, and enhancing the travel experience. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP Legal Research Digest 42: Legal Implications of Data Collection at Airports provides a survey of applicable law; considerations...

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 Program's ACRP Legal Research Digest 41: Legal Issues Relating to Airport Commercial Contracts complements other A...

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 ground transportation operations. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP Legal Research Digest 39: Up...

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 and Revenue updates the background of economic and legal information presented in ACRP Legal Research Digest ...

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, design, permitting, procurement, and construction.

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 (FBOs), the accommodation of air carriers with differing business models, and avoiding the grant of exclusive rig...