Career path of an airport management professional?

K

ktsai91

Well-Known Member
Just wondering, what is the typical career path of a person who works in airport management?

Do they usually start at smaller GA airports and work their way up to larger commercial service airports?

If I start out at a smaller GA airport where one does everything in an airport, like operations, fueling, vehicle and airfield maintenance, security, landscaping, etc, would I be a good candidate to move up to a larger airport where I can specialize in one of the tasks/duties in airport management (ie. operations, security, maintenance, etc.)?
 
I built a career as a market research professional outside of aviation - mostly in retail, hotel/casino, cruise, and food & beverage. That, plus a pilot's license, got me the job as head of research for TPA. Not the typical path, though.

The greatest share of revenue a large hub airport brings in is non-aeronautical. It's why few of our Director level staff have much of a background in aviation, save for the Ops folks.

Ops is an important part of airport management in large hub airports, but it's just a part among many.
 
Murdoughnut said:
I built a career as a market research professional outside of aviation - mostly in retail, hotel/casino, cruise, and food & beverage. That, plus a pilot's license, got me the job as head of research for TPA. Not the typical path, though.

The greatest share of revenue a large hub airport brings in is non-aeronautical. It's why few of our Director level staff have much of a background in aviation, save for the Ops folks.

Ops is an important part of airport management in large hub airports, but it's just a part among many.
Click to expand...

Hey I have a quick question. Do large hub airports separate security duties from operations duties or are they in some way or form still combined with the operations duties? I know at smaller GA airports, airport ops personnel does security-related tasks in addition to airport operations.
 
ktsai91 said:
Hey I have a quick question. Do large hub airports separate security duties from operations duties or are they in some way or form still combined with the operations duties? I know at smaller GA airports, airport ops personnel does security-related tasks in addition to airport operations.
Click to expand...

Well, at our airport Ops and Security both fall under the control of the same Vice President. And security is split between both our police force and our security team. The latter is more responsible for security policies and training, while the police force is a police force.

When our Director of Ops left it was our police chief that became interim Ops Director.

So I'd say in our case they're separate departments under the same operational business area. So closely aligned, yet still distinct. Would there be opportunities to move from Ops to Security, or from Security to Ops? Sure - though less likely the case for sworn LEOs.
 
@Murdoughnut I was wondering if airport operations is really the only entry-level job in airport management? Or are there multiple entry-level airport management jobs to get my foot in the door in airport management? Apart from airport ops, I am also interested in airport security, and even airport planning. Do airport security and airport planning jobs even require some sort of skills or experience, even if it is entry-level? I do have some sort of knowledge of airport security and airport planning, although I have no actual experience or skills in those areas.
 
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