Attracting Investment at General Aviation Airports Through Public–Private Partnerships

Although general aviation airports have historically been funded by federal, state, and local entities, the private sector is increasingly playing a larger role. This involvement has ranged on a continuum from service and management contracts to singular projects at airports that involve leasing mechanisms to long-term leases and the whole-scale private development of general aviation airports.

In an era of declining resources and increasingly scrutinized public expenditures, private-sector involvement is and will likely need to continue to play a larger role to fill an ongoing and increasing gap between the existing infrastructure and the infrastructure that is needed.

Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Synthesis 94: Attracting Investment at General Aviation Airports Through Public–Private Partnerships explore public–private partnerships (PPPs) at general aviation airports in the United States over the past five years.

For the purpose of the synthesis, these PPPs are defined by the World Bank as long-term contracts between a private party and a government entity for providing a public asset or service, in which the private party bears significant risk and management responsibility, and remuneration is linked to performance