Airport Experience® News - Leadership 2022

TODD HAUPTLI Q & A

WARD: Can you outline the key goals of AAAE going into 2023? HAUPTLI: There are Washington-related goals - a lot of things are going to be percolating in Washington. When we head into 2023, we head into another FAA reauthorization cycle. That is always important for airports, not only dealing with funding issues, but there are lots of regulatory kinds of issues that manifest themselves in the reauthorization bill. And in 2023, we’re going to have a brand new Congress. There are going to be new leaders on key committees. We have a job of educating new leaders in Congress and new members in Congress about airport priorities. More broadly than just AAAE, aviation interests have an obligation to educate Congress about the importance of aviation issues. We need to make sure that we keep aviation front and center in this year ahead. WARD: Will the focus still be on an increase in the PFC cap? HAUPTLI: AAAE and ACI are still hammering out the details, but it’s not going to be a surprise to anybody that we’re going to focus hard on funding as one of the key elements of reauthorization, and PFCs are always going to be one of the key component elements of the funding equation for airports, along with AIP.

WARD: Certainly, there is ongoing need for infrastructure investment... HAUPTLI: Yes, and a huge issue for airports is the cost escalation for construction projects. I hear all the time from directors about these construction projects that they’re bidding out and what’s coming back being 30% and 40% and 50% higher than they were pre-pandemic. The good news is we were able to help get a large amount of money pointed in the direction of airports for needed infrastructure investment. The bad news is before most of that money can be spent, a large percentage of it is being eaten up with this cost escalation on projects. WARD: What about on the regulatory side – what’s front and center for AAAE? HAUPTLI: On the regulatory front, there is a dizzying array of issues that airports are dealing with - things like [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)], [National Environmental Protection Act] issues, Advanced Air Mobility issues…. Also with the infrastructure legislation, there are a bunch of regulatory issues attached to that. This is not intended as a political statement, it’s just the Biden administration has different kinds of priorities than the Trump administration had. There tends to be a more aggressive regulatory agenda that airports are now dealing with. One other issue I’m hearing a lot about from our directors and our partners is resiliency and the electric grid. With all the planning [for] vertical takeoff and landing and the push for the electrification of ground service equipment and vehicles, airports are looking hard at resiliency of their facilities and electrical grid. Those upgrades are very expensive as well. As airports are planning for a different future, it becomes really important to focus on something that might initially seemmundane. Electric infrastructure doesn’t sound super sexy, but it ends up being incredibly important as you’re trying to figure out how to change the composition of the vehicles that are operating in and around your airport. WARD: Switching gears a bit, I hear a lot about succession planning and attracting new people to aviation. Based on the number of people who are enrolling in AAAE’s programs, are you seeing any movement there or is it pretty steady? TODD: There is a lot of focus on it in the industry, and there’s a lot of focus on it within our organization. We’ve got a leadership development committee that is a new creation within the past year. It is aimed at helping to provide pathways to engagement so that more people can go into leadership tracks within their organizations, and [to prompt] more people to choose careers in aviation. There is a lot of concern about the [aiport executive] pipeline. We need to make sure we have a great pipeline of future leaders and future workers.

“There is a lot of concern about the [aiport executive] pipeline. We need to make sure we have a great pipeline of future leaders and future workers.” - Todd Hauptli, president and CEO, AAAE.

59

A X N E W S L E A D E R S H I P I S S U E 2 0 2 2