Airports
Paper: Tax Changes Could Spur U.S. Airport Privatization
In the U.S., only one commercial airport is operated under a public-private partnership
St Louis Lambert Airport
St. Louis Lambert International Airport is among the commercial facilities that have received interest in privatization. © St. Louis city government

A recent paper released by the Brookings Institute calls for tax changes to encourage the increase of privatization of commercial airports in the U.S. Written by Robert Poole, an author at the Reason Foundation who also has long pushed for air traffic control privatization, the paper notes that the U.S. has long had public-private partnerships (P3s) in highways and transit, but all but one commercial airport is government-owned.

This isn’t the case globally, where airports have been privatized in Australia, Europe, Latin America, and parts of Asia either through sales or long-term P3 leases. In the U.S., Congress has written laws to pave the way for P3 leases, but only San Juan, Puerto Rico, has entered into such a lease, Poole wrote. He added that investors have expressed interest in Chicago Midway and St. Louis Lambert.

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