Airports are the hubs of air transportation industry and play critical role in connecting the world. The management and governance of these critical infrastructures is of utmost importance in aviation. The question of privatization of state-owned airports is of particular significance in air transportation industry.

When British Airports Authority was privatized in the 1980s, it served as a ‘showcase’ and ‘demonstration’ for the economic world and inspired airport privatization in Europe and many other countries. However, state-ownership is still the prevalent form of airport governance in majority of the world countries.

It has given rise to some very important questions in aviation management and air transportation industry.

What form of airport governance is better? State-ownership or private ownership?

What are the different forms of airport privatization?

Who are the stakeholders of airport privatization?

What makes airport privatization challenging?

What are the experiences of different countries with airport privatization?

Do state-owned airports provide better quality of services or private airports?

This course is based on answering above questions. It explains all of the important concepts associated with the topic of airport privatization and presents real world case studies to develop an in-depth understanding of the subject instead of just textbook theory.