What Degrees do Airport Managers at Major International Airports usually have?

N918KT

N918KT

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Curious to know but what kind of degrees do airport managers at major international airports usually have? I'm talking about the person at the top of the chain the Airport Manager/Executive/CEO.

A quick search online shows that the Airport CEO for PHL has an MBA in Finance along with a non-aviation Bachelor's degree.
 
Some have aviation degrees.
Some have business degrees.
Some have political science degrees.
Some have other degrees.
 
Considering the fact that most individuals who hold top-level management positions have a business background, they’re more than likely going to have an MBA and some flavor of a BS. Don’t count on any of them having an aviation degree.
 
Ryanb said:
Considering the fact that most individuals who hold top-level management positions have a business background, they’re more than likely going to have an MBA and some flavor of a BS. Don’t count on any of them having an aviation degree.
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Right, because they might care too much about "aviation" instead of doing the bidding of the money-beholden pols.
 
Ryanb said:
Considering the fact that most individuals who hold top-level management positions have a business background, they’re more than likely going to have an MBA and some flavor of a BS. Don’t count on any of them having an aviation degree.
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That's what I thought. I am just curious how far an Bachelor's degree in Aviation Administration or Aviation Management would take me. If I really wanted to go all the way up the chain, I think at some point I would hit a glass ceiling somewhere up the chain and cannot advance any further without a graduate degree. Would an MBA along with a Bachelor's Aviation Administration degree be a good combination for an Airport Manager/Executive at a major international airport?
 
N918KT said:
That's what I thought. I am just curious how far an Bachelor's degree in Aviation Administration or Aviation Management would take me. If I really wanted to go all the way up the chain, I think at some point I would hit a glass ceiling somewhere up the chain and cannot advance any further without a graduate degree. Would an MBA along with a Bachelor's Aviation Administration degree be a good combination for an Airport Manager/Executive at a major international airport?
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Probably. Why do you want to run a major airport?
 
Right now, I am not sure if I want to go all the way up the chain. I am wondering how far an aviation degree would go. Just exploring possibilities.
 
For many, a JD and/or MBA(MPA). Airport Management is really facilities management. Actual Aviation is only a small piece of the puzzle.
 
Brad Z said:
For many, a JD and/or MBA(MPA). Airport Management is really facilities management. Actual Aviation is only a small piece of the puzzle.
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Yes that's true. For a large airport you really have employees from various educational backgrounds. I think for medium-sized and GA airports more people have an aviation background.
 
N918KT said:
Would an MBA along with a Bachelor's Aviation Administration degree be a good combination for an Airport Manager/Executive at a major international airport?
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Im not the person to ask, in that regard.
 
A degree in anything other than a technical field like engineering, nursing etc. merely might get you in the door at any job. After that, it rapidly becomes semi irrelevant.

Same thing IMHO in Airport Management.

Cheers
 
Look at the career postings on the American Association of Airport Executives website (http://careercenter.aaae.org/). That's where most of the airports post their management openings, and given the fact that most airports are public entities, salaries are usually not a secret either.
 
N918KT said:
That's what I thought. I am just curious how far an Bachelor's degree in Aviation Administration or Aviation Management would take me. If I really wanted to go all the way up the chain, I think at some point I would hit a glass ceiling somewhere up the chain and cannot advance any further without a graduate degree. Would an MBA along with a Bachelor's Aviation Administration degree be a good combination for an Airport Manager/Executive at a major international airport?
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Getting an MBA at night while working your way up the chain at a small airport is a perfectly reasonable tactic. In addition, you'll get more out of it than getting an MBA when you have no practical work experience.
 
Here is the BIO on the guy I know who ran DCA and IAD. He's moved on to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum as deputy director and is likely going to replace ex-Marine Corps Commandant Jack Daley when he retires.

Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Browne received his undergraduate education at Dartmouth College, graduating with a B.A. in History in 1980. Shortly thereafter, he joined the U.S. Navy and served as a naval flight officer, flying F-14 Tomcats off of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, making numerous deployments to the Mediterranean, North Atlantic, and
Caribbean during seven years of active service. Browne amassed over 1,400 flight hours and more than 300 carrier landings, and is a graduate of the U.S. Navy's "Top Gun" Fighter Weapon School
 
flyingron said:
Here is the BIO on the guy I know who ran DCA and IAD. He's moved on to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum as deputy director and is likely going to replace ex-Marine Corps Commandant Jack Daley when he retires.

Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Browne received his undergraduate education at Dartmouth College, graduating with a B.A. in History in 1980. Shortly thereafter, he joined the U.S. Navy and served as a naval flight officer, flying F-14 Tomcats off of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, making numerous deployments to the Mediterranean, North Atlantic, and
Caribbean during seven years of active service. Browne amassed over 1,400 flight hours and more than 300 carrier landings, and is a graduate of the U.S. Navy's "Top Gun" Fighter Weapon School
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I don’t see anything in there that would qualify him to run a major airport or even a small one for that matter.
 
In the US, mostly Fahrenheit while Canada, Europe, et al - Celsius
:D
 
SkyDog58 said:
I don’t see anything in there that would qualify him to run a major airport or even a small one for that matter.
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I deleted his years of working up through the ranks in the airport authority since the poster only asked about what degrees were needed.

I can tell you Chris was a pretty proactive manager in my experience with him at IAD. For example, we no longer have fuel trucked into to IAD anymore. He got a branch off a petroleum pipeline that was about two miles off field.
 
flyingron said:
I deleted his years of working up through the ranks in the airport authority since the poster only asked about what degrees were needed.

I can tell you Chris was a pretty proactive manager in my experience with him at IAD. For example, we no longer have fuel trucked into to IAD anymore. He got a branch off a petroleum pipeline that was about two miles off field.
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Yet you included his military flight experience which is far less meaningful than his airport authority experience. The OP probably would have benefited more from the latter.
 
I did that only because it included the "Top Gun" schooling.
 
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