"Demanding airport position in limbo in Tulsa, Okla."

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Demanding airport position in limbo in Tulsa, Okla.
Tulsa World (OK)


A generation or so ago, airport managers were technicians or political
patronage appointees, but the job has become so complex that
professional training, accreditation and continuing education are
necessary to do it well, industry officials say.

"It's a big job even at relatively small airports that have
multimillion-dollar budgets," said Daniel Petree, dean of the College of
Business at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.

"Managers of airports such as Chicago's O'Hare or Atlanta's Hartsfield
operate enormous businesses with capital issues, labor and human
resource problems, general aviation and commercial airline customers,
communications with the Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation
Security Administration -- it's an extraordinarily complex business,"
Petree said. "It's akin to being a hospital administrator today."

At Tulsa International Airport, which has a 2004 operating budget of
$16.6 million and passenger traffic of 3 million people a year, 160
airport employees, dozens of contractors and airport businesses have
been working without an airport director since June 17.

On that date, Mayor Bill LaFortune suspended Airports Director Brent
Kitchen pending the completion of federal and city investigations of the
airport. The federal investigation hasn't been completed; the city probe
hasn't begun.

Preliminary findings of a 1 1/2-year investigation of the airport by the
inspector general of the Department of Transportation found no
violations of law. However, the FAA concluded that Tulsa airport
officials acting under the direction of former Mayor Susan Savage
violated federal policy in 2000 by entering into a loan transaction that
benefited Great Plains Airlines, which is bankrupt.

LaFortune named Mike Kier, the city's chief administrative officer, as
acting airports director.

Kier, who holds a full-time position at City Hall, said he hoped to work
about four hours a day as acting airport director.

"I'm splitting my time between downtown and out here" at Tulsa
International," Kier said June 28. "I have no intention of being here
permanently. I'm hoping it will be short."

In Kier's absence, Deputy Airport Directors Jeff Hough and Carl Remus
manage the airport in phone consultation with Kitchen, who is still on
the city payroll at $101,358 annually.

But airport and industry officials hope the situation is resolved
quickly because an airport the size of Tulsa International is far too
complex to be managed part time.

Bonnie Allin, president and chief executive of the Tucson Airport
Authority, manages Tucson International Airport. The facility handles
3.5 million passengers a year -- about 18 percent more than Tulsa.

"Running an airport like this is almost like running a small city,"
Allin said. "You run the police, fire, medical and public safety
services; you keep track of a myriad of federal regulations by the FAA,
TSA and Environmental Protection Agency as well as state and local laws;
you have to operate the terminal, which means you have to have a
knowledge and understanding of insurance, leasing, financing, capital
developments and purchasing; and you're dealing with businessmen,
tenants, custodians, technicians and field electricians.

"Somebody with a business background wouldn't be used to running an
airport that is a 24/7 business. We never close our doors. You have to
have someone with authority to make decisions 24 hours a day."

In times past, training for airport managers was of the on-the-job
variety. Today, colleges and universities offer airport manager
curriculums heavy with classes on business, finance, human resource
management and organizational behavior.

At Embry-Riddle, undergraduate courses are combined with internships at
major airports, where students learn about facilities and grounds, human
resources, airline relations and preparing for airport board meetings.

Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology, 8820 E. Pine St., offers
a four-year bachelor's degree in aviation technology management.

"Airport managers and airport directors are a very special breed," said
Brent Mills, executive vice president and chief operating officer at
Spartan. "They're trying to please a lot of masters -- and you can't do
it. It's a thankless job, but it can be a rewarding job."

Besides the academic route, airport manager candidates can combine
practical experience with courses certified by the American Association
of Airport Executives.

Once the candidate passes a 180-question written examination, he or she
submits a 50-page research paper on a topic in airport management. The
paper is evaluated by AAAE's Board of Examiners. If it's accepted, the
candidate must pass an oral examination by AAAE's panel of three airport
executives.

A candidate passing the written and oral examinations and who submits a
satisfactory management research paper is accredited by AAAE.

"Just as CPAs, lawyers or doctors are recognized by their professions,
there is enough peer pressure and personal reasons to want to be
accredited," said Spencer Dickerson, AAAE's senior executive vice
president.

About 400 airport managers nationally are accredited by AAAE; another
600 are in the process of being accredited, Dickerson said.

Kitchen, who has served as Tulsa airports director since 1988, is the
only airport director in the city's history to be professionally trained
as an airport executive and accredited by AAAE, city officials said.

Kelly Johnson, director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport,
south of Bentonville, received AAAE accreditation in 1991.

"I came from the finance department of the city of Fayetteville, but
when I got to the (Fayetteville Municipal) airport I realized how
woefully unprepared I was," Johnson said. "It's an exciting profession.
It changes constantly -- there's some new regulation every day from the
FAA, TSA, Corps of Engineers or the Department of Homeland Security.

"Every day brings a new challenge of some kind."


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