Airport operations

Airport operations encompass all of the processes involved in an airport to ensure your experience runs as smoothly as possible. This includes airport customer service, TSA, gateway operators, and more. Given the often busy nature of airports, proper operations are integral to ensure the thousands of people that flock in and out of its walls make it to their destinations safely. Like many fields, airport operations is a very diverse industry with a plethora of opportunities to be explored. There are four main segments of airport operations.

Each plays an important role in the full functionality of an airport. Without an airport operations department, plenty of missed flights, poor security checks, and overall chaos would ensue. Let’s delve more into this exciting and dynamic field.

Types of Airport Operations

Within an airport, there are generally four divisions:

Landside operations

Airside operations

Billing and invoicing

Information management

Here’s the breakdown for each.

Airside operations

Those who work airside operations oversee the airfield, ramps, safety, and security of the airport. If you’ve ever looked outside your airplane window before taking off or after landing and witnessed individuals directing vehicles or carrying out duties on the landing, they are working in airside operations. This department works to make sure the entire airside environment runs as efficiently as possible. This includes:

v Coordinating responses to airside incidents, accidents, emergencies.

v Allocation of aircraft parking and aircraft escorts.

v Conducting runaway and taxiway inspections.

v Policing airside driving.

v Vehicle escorts for companies and contractors requiring airside access.

v Day-to-day management of wildlife to reduce the risk of bird interference on aircraft.

Landside operations

Those who work in landside operations have a customer-serviced role overseeing the terminals, concourses, roadways, and properties surrounding the airport. They also conduct the day-to-day operations inside the terminals and parking decks. Like airside, landside deals with safety and security operations. Terminal operations falls under this category. 

Landside operations is crucial to what the passenger experiences while going through the airport. Working in this field, you’ll understand the needs of the customers and implement tools to make their experience better. If you believe this industry is for you, it’s good to consider the many common positions out there, keeping in mind that these depend on the size and demand of each airport.

Billing and Invoicing

Individuals who work in billing and invoicing handle both aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenue. Ledger or accounting systems contain information regarding airport finances: flight bills, handling invoices, cash, sales within the airport (points-of-sales), staff payrolls, etc. People in this division typically have a background in business, accounting, or finance.

Information Management

Information management refers to the collection and distribution of daily flight information. People who work in information management store seasonal and arrival/departure information, and keep track of the connection with airlines. This department is integral to the timeliness of flight arrivals and departures and the organization of the flight schedule.