The Airport (and Manager) of the Future

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想想看，这是一个令人难以置信的数字:短短几十年里，在机场项目上花费了5000亿美元, stretching from Ataturk Airport in Istanbul to La Guardia in New York. All of which may be good news for holiday travelers, 谁会有一天体验自助行李托运和自助登机, hike along artificial waterfalls, and wander multilevel gardens. The only issue: how to pay for it.

传统上, airport projects have been financed either by private investors or, 和北美一样, mostly by municipal debt. But experts say it’s going to take a whole lot of new, steady revenue to cover all that investment—and, 显然, a special kind of CEO to figure out how to generate it.

Airport revenues, of course, have come a long way over the years. No longer content with offering just shoeshine stations or newsstands, 世界各地的许多机场都变成了设有健身俱乐部的零售场所, 高端精品店, 餐厅和娱乐中心(其中一些放映IMAX电影), 它们都坐落在壮观的建筑中，飞行似乎是事后才想到的. Vancouver’s airport boasts an aquarium with more than 5,000 sea creatures; Hong Kong’s has an adjacent nine-hole golf course. 当完成, Singapore’s new airport will feature multilevel gardens, walking trails and a waterfall that soars over 100 feet.

然而，为了让我们不注意到我们的航班晚点几个小时所做的努力, 在过去十年中，机场从非航空来源获得的收入份额一直没有变化. 据国际机场协会称，美国机场所谓的非航空收入.S. 从2000年到2012年，机场收入占机场总收入的比例略有下降, 到45%左右. 这要归咎于从电子商务到优步(Uber)和来福车(Lyft)的一切，它们正在削减停车收据.

“Parking used to account for a quarter of all airport revenue,扎克·戴明说, a principal in Korn Ferry’s Logistics, Distribution and Transportation Sector practice. “That’s been declining every year. Airports have to offset the reduction.”

In response, airport operators are already thinking in new ways. “航空大都市”——本质上是把机场财产变成自己的城市——是一个在许多主要机场获得吸引力的概念. Next to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport, 例如, 汽车制造商保时捷建造了一条测试跑道，一些高端航空乘客可以尝试. 丹佛国际(Denver International)和迈阿密国际(Miami International)在这处房产上都有油井和气井, 而杰克逊维尔国际公司的土地则被出租用于木材生产.

But who is going to run these complex new airports? 戴明表示，这些新的挑战意味着，受雇运营机场的高管需要一套与几十年前完全不同的技能. 它不再仅仅是确保跑道上的积雪被清除，空中和地面行动顺利进行. 机场首席执行官需要身兼主题公园管理人员、物流专家、大城市市长等各种职务.

“过去运营机场的人都有航空背景，”戴明说. “现在他们来自邮轮公司，甚至娱乐公司.换句话说, 从事过“体验”业务的人，了解消费者的人.

肖恩•多诺休, CEO of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, arrived in 2013 and manages a massive 1,800-employee operation with an $800 million annual operating budget. Though he has spent his career in the airlines industry, 他认为，未来的机场首席执行官必须是广博的通才，而不是在工程等特定领域具有深度的战术家, 操作, HR or finance—the usual spawning ground for airport execs. 他说:“现在不仅仅是建造新的航站楼或跑道。. “It’s not just about having good relationships with the FAA, or working with security, or overseeing 操作. It’s the ability to manage all these elements and more.”

好消息至少是这份工作的薪水不错:在公立和私立机场，公共机场的高级职位的薪水都可以达到六位数, 在大多数薪酬专家看来，授权和预算似乎都是一致的. Says Deming: “Airports are no longer just a place to catch a flight.”

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