Airport_Business_February-March_2020 - 31

FBO MATTERS
Flooding at airports may be an increasingly pressing
issue due to more torrential flooding hitting airports
situated in low lying areas.
PHOTO CREDIT: DENNIS WISS, AIRPORT DIRECTOR, SMARTT FIELD AIRPORT

Smartt Field Airport in Des
Sioux. Mo., is located near the
Mississippi River, making it
susceptible to flooding when
the river crests from heavy rain
storms.
PHOTO CREDIT: DAVE DOHERTY, PRESIDENT, EAA
CHAPTER 32

the Airport Improvement Program, grant
monies from which carry a 20-year
amortization schedule, deserves a fresh
examination of how those dollars are
allocated to at-risk airports vis a vis
climate change. A brief review of the
FAA's website for grants awarded to
airports reveals no consideration is being
made by the FAA with respect to the
long-term viability of certain airports
vying for those grant monies. In 2019
alone, Key West International Airport
(EYW) received $16.3 million in AIP
funding for taxiway rehabilitation and
related taxiway lighting improvements,
plus noise mitigation efforts. The year
prior some $4.7 million were provided in
AIP funding to improve the access road,
as well as noise mitigation measures at
EYW. Likewise in the past 24-months,
the Louis B. Armstrong Airport (MSY)
in New Orleans received a combined
$22 million in AIP funding to expand
the apron. Both Key West International
Airport and Louis B. Armstrong Airport
have a surveyed elevation of 3' MSL or
less. To be sure, according to FAA records,

the surveyed elevations for Runway 20 at
MSY is actually below sea level.
Is deploying $43 million worth of AIP
monies to improvements in infrastructure
at airports that may be underwater before
those improvements are fully amortized a
wise investment? Should the FAA require
airports to more fully justify certain
improvements for which they seek AIP
funds if they fall below a certain MSL?
These two airports are merely emblematic
of the larger problem which is this:
Hundreds of public-use airports are at
risk to the most disastrous consequences
of climate change, and the unique nature
of both funding mechanisms and lease
terms means decisions by FAA personnel,
airport administrators and the private
sector today must consider the long term
viability of the airport itself.
This same critical-thinking exercise
goes for what airports ask of their tenants
in terms of investment at lease inception.
A common practice for major airports in
the U.S. is to require tenants to deploy a
corresponding level of investment in the
ground lease in the form of improvements,

which ultimately revert to the airport
at the end of the lease term. For many
airports, the investment requirement
is formulaic- such as per square foot
leased- and can run into the millions
for tenants. Generally, and as alluded
to in the Airport Compliance Manual,
FAA Order 5190.6B, the FAA advances
the notion that such improvements can
be amortized over 30 years. To be sure,
this is one of the justifications for longer
term leases at airports- to allow the
private sector enough time to amortize
their investment. For at risk airports,
a second recommendation is worthy
of consideration: Shorter term tenant
leases requiring little to no investment,
or a formula reduction in the required
investment by tenants at lease inception
to acknowledge the obvious.
Finally, despite overwhelming
scientific evidence of climate change,
there remain naysayers who prefer
politics over pragmatism. One must
only assume these same persons believe
one of the four forces of flight is sorcery,
as opposed to say, Bernoulli's principle.
If hardened in one's belief that climate
change isn't real, then there should be
no risk in amending the Force Majeure
provision found in virtually every airport
ground lease in existence. Perhaps
modifying the provision to ensure not
only is the tenant relieved of any and
all obligations- including to rebuildbut the airport should be obligated to
repay the unamortized portion of the
private sector investment it required of
the tenant at lease inception, especially
since the airport was at risk in the first
place. After all, is it really an Act of God
if we bury our heads in the sand while
the water rises? 

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 \ AVIATIONPROS.COM / 31
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Airport_Business_February-March_2020

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