Location rents and the experience of US airports—lessons learned from off-airport entities

This paper explores whether airports can capture location rents from off-airport businesses that serve airport customers. It examines two types of off-airport enterprises: services that typically gather customers by transporting them to and from the airport and through-the-fence activities, which access the airside of the airport via taxiways or other means. It examines the differential in fees paid by comparable on- and off-airport service providers. It also discusses how the distribution of rents may be affected by laws and policies affecting the fees charged by airports, and by the structure of the market for airport services.