Contact: Colleen Roche/Curt Ritter (212) 788-2958
In his State of the City address, the Mayor announced that the City would not renew its lease with the Port Authority and would, instead, seek to privatize the management of the airports. The RFEI seeks proposals from qualified airport management firms on how to best structure a long-term arrangement to improve the quality and competitiveness of the airports during the remaining term of the lease, and then after the lease expires.
"Our City's airports, among the nation's busiest, have been neglected and poorly managed by the Port Authority to the detriment of New York City," said Mayor Giuliani. "In a recent nationwide survey of passengers ranking the nation's 36 largest airports, LaGuardia placed 31st and JFK placed 35th. In a similar study of 31 international airports in the United States, Canada and Europe, JFK ranked dead last. Each year nearly $200 million, generated by JFK and LaGuardia, is siphoned by the Port Authority to subsidize its money-losing operations, such as the New Jersey PATH train, rather than reinvested to modernize and improve New York City airports.
"As I announced in January, the City does not intend to renew the Port Authority's lease when it expires in 2015," the Mayor continued. "Private airport management has worked around the world. It saves taxpayer dollars and improves the quality of service, and now it's time to institute it here. This RFEI begins the process of selecting a private operator who will be prepared to take over the management of the airports when the lease expires. Until that time, the private operator may provide airport-related services for the duration of the lease and advocate for improvements, and also will be available if the Port Authority can be persuaded to end the lease early," the Mayor concluded.
The privatization of JFK and LaGuardia would constitute the two largest airport privatizations in the United States. Until this year, JFK was the busiest airport in the Northeastern United States, and the busiest, most active cargo complex in the world. However, it has gradually lost market share to Newark International Airport, and Newark is projected to surpass JFK as the busiest passenger airport this year. Approximately 31.6 million passengers use JFK annually. LaGuardia ranks among the top twenty busiest passenger airports in the United States, serving more than 21 million passengers annually.
Mayor Giuliani noted that recent airport privatizations such as the privatization of the Indianapolis International Airport, as well as that of Heathrow International Airport have demonstrated that private operators often can do a much better job than government bureaucracies when it comes to running airports.
"The privatization and improvement of the airports is another way in which Mayor Giuliani is ensuring that New York City will remain the Capital of the World into the next century," said Anthony P. Coles, Senior Advisor to the Mayor. "There is no reason why the world's leading City should have less than first class airports with first class management for the millions of tourists and business travelers who visit our City each year."
The RFEI will be distributed to qualified airport management companies around the world, and responses are expected by April 16, 1999. The City expects that there will be significant interest in the RFEI from qualified companies. After responses to the RFEI are received and reviewed, the City then expects to proceed with an Request For Proposals for the actual selection of an airport manager. The RFEI seeks proposals with respect to each airport and states that consideration may be given to agreements with different entities for each airport.