This book provides a comprehensive guide to the economics of airports for all managers, regulators and educators within the aviation industry. Written by three renowned experts but made accessible and relevant for all those working within the industry, or aspiring to do so, it is the perfect entry point for learning about the underlying economics of airports as a crucial component of the air transport system. It explains the cost structures of airports and then relates these to how airports determine their charges.

It explains how charges at different airports vary, whether this is due to different types of traffic, different input prices, ways of producing outputs or different levels of efficiency. Most airports are publicly owned or regulated, and there has been a trend towards privatisation. The book explains how airports have been regulated and assesses how well the regulatory structures have performed; it discusses the trend towards light-handed regulation and the reliance on competition where this exists. The book examines the problems of limited capacity at airports and how these are resolved through slots and charging systems, and the long-term solution of investment in airports—why it is controversial, and how it can be achieved effectively. It also considers the environmental impacts of airports and the issues these pose for managers, from the well-known problems of airport noise to the growing recognition of the impacts of air transport on climate change, and the roles airports play in mitigating these consequences.

Written for airport and airline managers, regulators and students, this book will suit Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes on air transport management.