The Public Private Partnership Airport Summit

Public-private partnerships (P3) have seen recent success in delivering critical infrastructure across the country.  As many airports have faced challenges in finding ways to enhance their capacity to fund and construct major expansion and infrastructure, many are looking to P3’s as an opportunity to facilitate growth.  P3 recently hosted their annual summit in San Diego, California.  The P3 Airport Summit is the leading P3 Conference.

This year, the Summit focused on project management, planning, procurement, and networking for airport owners, operators, airlines and industry professionals.  The Conference provided a great opportunity to learn more about the P3 environment, information on types of projects that have been successful, and an informative keynote session by the Australian Ambassador to the US on a concept called asset recycling.

A highlight for attendees were the presentations by two fast-growing airports, LAX and Austin-Bergstrom (ABIA). The ABIA presentation outlined some of the challenges associated with rapid community and passenger traffic growth and how the airports are dealing with it from a project planning perspective. ABIA identified a number of possibilities where P3’s could be utilized to implement projects. The growth anticipated at Austin-Bergstrom will be a great opportunity for some P3 projects and it was exciting to hear the passenger projections they had through 2040, highlighted by the VISION 2040 plan.

In addition, LAX is undergoing some very significant changes and upgrades across the entire airport. It was interesting to hear about the Consolidated Rent-A-Car (ConRAC) facility PPP project. Insight into the cost to participate in the bid process and the importance of MBE/DBE and when to engage in the procurement cycle was fascinating. I had the opportunity to have lunch with a WBE entity that partook in the process and they shared the time and cost associated with the pursuit, indicating that in the future the overall process might better be served by involving some of the smaller DBE/MBE/WBE entities at a later stage to reduce the financial burden of project pursuit.

Another interesting presentation was by the JFK Terminal One team. They shared how they bring different perspectives and strengths to the team, how they worked with the Port Authority of NYNJ, and impressively how the New Terminal One will be the gateway to NY and the United States.

Overall, it was an opportunity to learn more about the P3 process, what has worked and what may work, and learn from some of the thought leaders in the industry.

The P3 summit is dedicated to P3 education, industry networking, and business development.  With over 1,000 airport representatives and industry leaders in attendance, they focus on project management, planning, procurement, and networking for airport owners, operators, airlines, and industry professionals.

About the Author: Garrett Kelly

Garrett Kelly joined Daifuku Airport Technologies in 2018 as the Sales Manager for Daifuku Airport Technologies in North America.  He graduated from The University of Michigan with a degree in Industrial and Operations Engineering and obtained his MBA from University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business.