The Conversations Shaping the Future of Airport Infrastructure. On Demand.

Airport leaders have more delivery options today than ever before, and this workshop is designed to help them navigate that landscape with confidence. This owner-focused workshop equips airport leaders with a clear framework for evaluating delivery options by starting with what matters most: project goals, constraints, institutional capacity, funding, risk, and long-term performance. Participants will examine how traditional delivery, design-build, CMAR, concessions, leases, joint development, and P3 structures can each be evaluated within the airport environment. The session will be adapted specifically for airports and will create space for candid, practical discussion about what fits a given project's goals and operating environment, helping owners confidently match the right delivery model to the right project.

Can the United States develop enough airport capacity, quickly enough and at a cost passengers and airlines can support? ADIC brings airport owners, airlines, government, private investors, developers and operators into one conversation about that challenge. The opening remarks establish a practical test for every session: identify the need, explain how it gets paid for, determine who can deliver it, and define the passenger benefit. The aim is to expand the range of workable partnerships and turn demand growth and rising expectations into projects that can be financed, built and operated successfully.

Airport projects bring together owners, airlines, investors, developers, advisors, and delivery partners, each with a stake in the outcome. Jim Ray will discuss how big ideas, driven by strong leadership and the right partnerships can deliver success.

Following opening remarks by Jim Ray, Corporate President, Advisory at HNTB, Jim will lead a fireside discussion with Phil Washington, former CEO of Denver International Airport, and Ed Sniffen, Director of the Hawaii Department of Transportation. They will explore how leaders pair vision with execution to move complex airport and transportation projects forward.

Major hubs must add capacity and improve the passenger journey while keeping complex operations running. With Boston Logan as the focal point, airport, airline and private developer perspectives will test how a major terminal opportunity should be structured and paid for. The conversation will examine when private capital and operating expertise justify their cost, how airline commitments support investment, and which responsibilities the public owner should retain. Lessons from other major redevelopments will inform a practical discussion of affordability, delivery certainty and the service standards that should govern the next generation of hub infrastructure.

Airline support is central to airport development because airlines influence demand, facility requirements and the revenues that repay investment. This panel will examine what makes a capital program worth supporting as airports seek more capacity and passengers expect better service. Airline leaders will discuss direct investment, airport financing and partnerships with private developers, investors and operators. The focus is on the commercial arrangements that can reconcile affordable airline costs with timely delivery, operational flexibility and a better passenger experience, including who bears the downside when growth or project performance disappoints.

Advanced air mobility needs infrastructure that passengers will use and investors can support. This discussion will test how vertiports, airport connections, power and operating systems can develop into a viable network. Aircraft, infrastructure and operating perspectives will address the demand and utilization needed to pay for facilities, the value of existing aviation assets, and the risks of building ahead of deployment. The aim is to identify where private development and capital can lead, what airports and government must enable, and which investments offer a credible improvement in access, journey time and reliability.

An airport's ability to borrow does not by itself determine what it can afford to build. This session will examine how passenger demand, airline charges and commercial revenues support a capital program through construction and operation. Airport finance, federal credit and credit assessment perspectives will test how grants, debt and private capital can be combined without exhausting financial flexibility. The discussion will identify when a new financing source expands deliverable capacity, how project scope and timing affect affordability, and which investments provide the strongest capacity and passenger service benefits for the available resources.

DFW Terminal F provides a practical lens for examining whether modular delivery can bring terminal capacity into service faster and with greater cost certainty. The discussion will follow the decisions behind design, fabrication, construction sequencing and work within an operating airport. It will test the full economics, including earlier spending, financing costs and the value of earlier opening. Airport owners, private developers and capital providers will gain a clearer basis for deciding where modular methods can improve delivery and how to preserve passenger flow, quality and maintainability as schedules tighten.

Airports need development models that fit their scale, operating constraints and ability to pay. Drawing on the perspectives of Long Beach, Hollywood Burbank and Sonoma, this panel will examine how owners translate growth and passenger expectations into practical infrastructure choices. The conversation will compare public delivery, alternative procurement and partnerships with private developers, investors and operators. It will explore how scope, phasing, airline support and community priorities affect the choice, and identify the conditions under which a different model can deliver useful capacity sooner while protecting affordability and public accountability.

Regional airports can provide additional capacity and more convenient access within growing metropolitan markets, but unused infrastructure alone does not make an investment viable. This panel will examine how to identify passenger demand, secure sustainable airline service and phase development around credible growth. Airport owners, private operators and investors will discuss terminal investment, commercial revenues and the risks of airline concentration. The focus is on structures that combine public objectives with private development capability and capital, delivering reliable service and a better passenger journey at a cost the market can support.

The cost and structure of capital can determine whether an airport project is affordable enough to proceed. This session will examine how tax exempt debt, private equity and other financing sources can fit within privately developed airport projects where applicable requirements are met. The discussion will connect capital structure to repayment revenues, delivery risk and operating control. Participants will test whether a proposed structure supports needed capacity and passenger service at a better total cost, and identify the questions owners, developers, lenders and counsel must resolve before committing to it.

Adding terminal capacity too late or at an unsustainable cost leaves both airports and passengers paying for delivery failures. This session will examine the owner decisions, procurement methods and management practices that can improve the path from design to operation. The discussion will test where project and construction managers, developers, contractors and operators can assume meaningful responsibility, and where airports must strengthen their own capability. Digital tools and AI will be evaluated against practical results such as fewer changes and earlier risk detection, with attention to financing costs, operational continuity and the passenger benefits delivered for the money spent.

The value of a new terminal depends on how it performs every day after opening. This session will examine how design choices affect passenger flow, staffing, maintenance, reliability and the cost of operating a growing airport. Planners, designers and operating specialists will discuss how to bring those requirements into project development and financing decisions. The conversation will address where private operating expertise and contracts that reward performance can improve results, how renewal costs should be funded, and what owners must specify to deliver the passenger experience they are paying for.

Airport logistics encompasses both the movement of air cargo and the supplies that keep terminals, concessions and passenger services functioning. This session will examine how changing volumes, automation and network requirements affect facilities, access and operating models.

Perspectives from Amazon and Bradford Airport Logistics will help test where private developers, investors and operators can finance and deliver improvements. The aim is to identify commercially viable logistics infrastructure that supports airport growth, reduces congestion and operating costs, and improves the reliability of the services passengers and airport businesses depend on.

An airport project needs more than a strong financial model to attract capital. It needs stakeholders aligned around what will be built, who will pay, who will take responsibility and how the benefits will be shared. This session examines how airport owners, airlines, government, communities, private developers, operators and investors build that alignment and turn it into a bankable, investable partnership. Panelists will discuss what lenders and equity investors need to underwrite, how stakeholder commitments support the investment case, and why otherwise promising deals stall. The focus is on partnerships that can sustain support, secure capital and deliver the capacity and passenger experience that growing demand requires.

Development equity pays for uncertainty before an airport project becomes a financeable asset. This session will examine what private sponsors fund during procurement, design and approvals, how they price construction exposure, and what returns compensate those risks. Developers, contractors and investors will discuss the commitments needed from airports and airlines to keep credible projects moving. The focus is on structuring private participation so it expands the ability to deliver capacity and better passenger facilities, while making clear who bears losses, what public obligations remain and how the value of equity should be judged.

Commercial revenue can help airports fund growth, renew facilities and relieve pressure on airline charges. Where will the next dollar come from, and what will it take to earn it? This session explores how airports can increase net revenue through food and beverage, retail, commercial space and development partnerships while meeting rising passenger expectations. Panelists will examine the investment, operating expertise and commercial models needed to turn unmet passenger needs into sustainable growth. The discussion will also consider how airport owners, developers, investors and operators share risks and rewards in ways that support viable businesses and continued reinvestment. The focus is on practical strategies that attract private capital, improve the passenger experience and generate more revenue for airport infrastructure.

Airport cargo opportunities reach the market when commercial demand, site readiness and the owner's objectives line up. Drawing on Denver and Nashville, this session will examine the infrastructure airports need, the opportunities they can bring forward and the partners required to deliver them. The discussion will address private development and capital, tenant commitments and responsibility for enabling works. It will also consider how cargo plans compete or coordinate with passenger growth for land, road access and utilities, and what makes a procurement credible enough for developers and investors to pursue.

Airports are entering a period in which access to reliable, affordable power could become as important to growth as runway or terminal capacity. New terminals, electric ground fleets, charging infrastructure, data-intensive systems, regional electric and hybrid aircraft, and eVTOL operations are all increasing demand while utilities and transmission systems face growing pressure from data centers and other major users.

Some U.S. airports and airport authorities have already begun investing in resilience, electrification and distributed energy, while many others are still evaluating what comes next. This session will examine where the real constraints sit across grid capacity, regulation, permitting, resilience, technology and capital, and how changing federal incentives, tax credits and subsidy programs may affect the future power mix. The focus is on what airport leaders need to decide now before power availability, cost or reliability becomes a constraint on future development.

Public funding and private participation must fit within a workable airport ownership, revenue and compliance framework. This session will examine how sponsors can identify that framework early enough to support investment and avoid delays. FAA, financing and operating perspectives will address the use of grants and passenger facility charges alongside private development and capital, subject to the requirements of each structure. The conversation will focus on allocating responsibilities, securing necessary approvals and maintaining public obligations while delivering additional capacity, dependable operations and the passenger improvements that the investment is intended to achieve.

The airport curb is evolving from a traffic-management problem into a strategic commercial platform. Parking, rideshare, autonomous mobility, remote check-in and new ground-transportation models are changing who controls the passenger journey and where value is created.

The discussion will also explore how airports should think beyond the terminal curb to the broader access network, including smart corridors, connected vehicles, real-time traffic management and digital infrastructure. The focus will be on how airports can improve access, protect landside revenue and determine where private investment and new operating models can create value.

Cargo development must earn its place in an airport’s investment program through viable tenant demand, disciplined economics and a buildable technical solution. This session will examine how ground leases, tenant credit, construction costs, enabling infrastructure and financing terms determine whether a logistics facility can proceed.

The panel will look at how airport income, developer returns, technical feasibility and capital requirements come together in a financeable structure, including where site conditions, utilities, access, phasing and other engineering considerations can materially change the economics of a deal.

Successful ground transportation center projects require more than financing a new garage. They depend on getting the business case, rental car participation, customer facility charge, project scope, access, delivery structure and long-term operating model aligned from the beginning.

Using Reno-Tahoe as a practical case study, the conversation can explore what made the project work, what the airport and development team learned along the way, and what they would do differently on the next one.

Security capacity increasingly shapes how much traffic a terminal can handle and how passengers experience the airport. This conversation will examine how airports and TSA can coordinate facilities, equipment, staffing and technology to improve security while reducing avoidable friction.

The discussion will also explore how security-related infrastructure should be funded and delivered, including where private terminal developers, operators and technology partners can help finance or deliver enabling works such as checkpoint facilities, access control, perimeter protection, vehicle barriers, power, data and other security systems, while TSA retains responsibility for its core screening mission.

Attention will center on implementation at operating airports, realistic throughput improvements and the flexibility needed to accommodate changing requirements without repeated reconstruction or unnecessary passenger cost.

Fast-growing airports face increasingly difficult choices about how to finance, procure and deliver major capital programs while maintaining affordability, airline alignment and operational performance. At the same time, rising construction costs, larger capital programs, delivery risk and pressure on public funding are causing more airports to reconsider alternative delivery models, including P3 structures.

This session will examine what has changed, when alternative delivery and private participation deserve serious consideration, and how airport owners should compare those approaches with traditional public delivery. Drawing on current airport development challenges and the panelists’ experience on both sides of major infrastructure transactions, the discussion will explore financing capacity, lifecycle cost, risk allocation, governance, operating performance and passenger outcomes.

The panel will also test what private developers, investors and operators must contribute beyond capital, how those benefits should be measured, and what evidence should ultimately support one delivery model over another.

Maintaining leadership at ATL requires dependable operations and passenger service while capacity and infrastructure evolve. This conversation will examine how the airport sets investment priorities, pays for its program and delivers work within a complex operating environment. The discussion will connect airline alignment, asset renewal and workforce capability to the results passengers experience.

It will also test where private developers, investors and operators could add value even at an airport with substantial financial resources, and how technology and maintenance investment should compete with expansion for capital and management attention.

LaGuardia, JFK and Newark offer distinct lessons on major airport redevelopment through public ownership and different combinations of airline participation, private capital, development and operation. Across its airport system, the Port Authority has also used management contracts and other operating models, creating a broad base of experience from which to consider what comes next.

Bringing together the airport owner, airline, developer/operator, investor and legal perspectives, this closing discussion will examine what these projects have taught the industry about financing, governance, risk allocation, stakeholder alignment and execution. The panel will also look ahead to the next phase of Newark, including Terminal B, what may be different this time, what the Port Authority and airlines need to accomplish, and what potential partners should be thinking about now.