Airport Management: Investing in, Operating and Growing the Business
Author(s): Tan Sri Dr Bashir Ahmad (Author), Edward Clayton (Author)
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: July 28, 2026
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 160 pages
ISBN-10: 1032738464
ISBN-13: 9781032738468
Book Description
Airports are dynamic infrastructure assets and organisations, which are subject to constant change as a result of increasing traffic, ownership changes, environmental, economic, safety and technological changes. Customers (airlines, passengers and freight organisations) and stakeholders (government, community) also put pressure on airports to change.
This book examines the pressures to change faced by airports of different sizes, from small community airports to intercontinental mega-hubs, and will help readers to understand and anticipate the changes which will happen at airports with which they are involved. The objective of this book is to look at the broad value chain of airports and the roles of the various players within the value chain, identifying how airports can manage their staff, stakeholders and customers, the ways in which governance and staffing models can be evolved to cope with the emerging challenges faced by the industry, and risks faced by airports, together with mitigation approaches. Each chapter ends with a series of questions which can be applied when considering a specific airport. The key target users of those questions are board members and investors, who need to grill management to ensure that they fully understand and appreciate the airport under consideration, but the questions will also be useful prompts for any reader of the book.
This book has, therefore, been written for the person who is starting to work in or for the airport industry – as an airport employee, a board member, a regulator, a supplier of equipment or services to airports, an investor in airports, anyone engaged in non-aviation work such as airport retail or property development, or an airline staff member who has to deal with airports as a user.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Bashir and Edward have used their combined decades of professional experience to produce a book which will be useful for anyone needing an overview of how airports work as infrastructure and as a business. Airport Management: Investing in, Operating and Growing the Business helps the reader to do exactly what it says on the cover.”
Angela Gittens, former Director General, Airports Council International
“I know of no professionals better qualified to describe the airport business model than Bashir and Edward. Bashir’s experiences at the very top levels of national airline, government regulator, and then in leading the fledgling KLIA to become a world class operation, promise to make this book a must-read.”
Peter Harbison, Founder of CAPA – Centre for Aviation
About the Author
Tan Sri Dr Bashir Ahmad is one of the few executives in the world who has worked at a senior level in practically every aspect of the aviation industry, including working for an airline, the government and an airport group, as well as with industry bodies. His aviation industry career spans 54 years.
Edward Clayton has supported airports, airlines, airport investors and aviation regulators as a senior strategy consultant for 21 years. Prior to that he was director of airport operations at HOCHTIEF AirPort GmbH and also worked for British Airways for 12 years, for many of which he was focused on airport-airline relationships.
Airport Management: Investing in, Operating and Growing the Business
Author(s): Tan Sri Dr Bashir Ahmad (Author), Edward Clayton (Author)
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: July 28, 2026
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 160 pages
ISBN-10: 1032738375
ISBN-13: 9781032738376
Book Description
Airports are dynamic infrastructure assets and organisations, which are subject to constant change as a result of increasing traffic, ownership changes, environmental, economic, safety and technological changes. Customers (airlines, passengers and freight organisations) and stakeholders (government, community) also put pressure on airports to change.
This book examines the pressures to change faced by airports of different sizes, from small community airports to intercontinental mega-hubs, and will help readers to understand and anticipate the changes which will happen at airports with which they are involved. The objective of this book is to look at the broad value chain of airports and the roles of the various players within the value chain, identifying how airports can manage their staff, stakeholders and customers, the ways in which governance and staffing models can be evolved to cope with the emerging challenges faced by the industry, and risks faced by airports, together with mitigation approaches. Each chapter ends with a series of questions which can be applied when considering a specific airport. The key target users of those questions are board members and investors, who need to grill management to ensure that they fully understand and appreciate the airport under consideration, but the questions will also be useful prompts for any reader of the book.
This book has, therefore, been written for the person who is starting to work in or for the airport industry – as an airport employee, a board member, a regulator, a supplier of equipment or services to airports, an investor in airports, anyone engaged in non-aviation work such as airport retail or property development, or an airline staff member who has to deal with airports as a user.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Bashir and Edward have used their combined decades of professional experience to produce a book which will be useful for anyone needing an overview of how airports work as infrastructure and as a business. Airport Management: Investing in, Operating and Growing the Business helps the reader to do exactly what it says on the cover.”
Angela Gittens, former Director General, Airports Council International
“I know of no professionals better qualified to describe the airport business model than Bashir and Edward. Bashir’s experiences at the very top levels of national airline, government regulator, and then in leading the fledgling KLIA to become a world class operation, promise to make this book a must-read.”
Peter Harbison, Founder of CAPA – Centre for Aviation
About the Author
Tan Sri Dr Bashir Ahmad is one of the few executives in the world who has worked at a senior level in practically every aspect of the aviation industry, including working for an airline, the government and an airport group, as well as with industry bodies. His aviation industry career spans 54 years.
Edward Clayton has supported airports, airlines, airport investors and aviation regulators as a senior strategy consultant for 21 years. Prior to that he was director of airport operations at HOCHTIEF AirPort GmbH and also worked for British Airways for 12 years, for many of which he was focused on airport-airline relationships.