Legal Considerations for General Aviation Lease Development at Airports (2024)
Chapter: ACRP LRD 46: Legal Considerations for General Aviation
AIRPORT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM
Sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration
Legal Considerations for General Aviation Lease Development at Airports
This digest was prepared under ACRP Project 11-01, “Legal Aspects of Airport Programs,” for which the Transportation Research Board (TRB) is the agency coordinating the research. Under Topic 12-02, this digest was prepared by Timothy R. Karaskiewicz, Midwest Airport Consultants, Glendale, WI. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this digest are those of the researchers who performed the research and are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; or the program sponsors. The senior program officer is Jordan Christensen.
Background
There are over 4,000 airports in the country and most of these airports are owned by governments. A 2003 survey conducted by Airports Council International–North America concluded that city ownership accounts for 38 percent, followed by regional airports at 25 percent, single county at 17 percent, and multi-jurisdictional at 9 percent. Primary legal services to these airports are, in most cases, provided by municipal, county, and state attorneys.
Research reports and summaries produced by the Airport Continuing Legal Studies Project and published as ACRP Legal Research Digests are developed to assist these attorneys seeking to deal with the myriad of legal problems encountered during airport development and operations. Such substantive areas as eminent domain, environmental concerns, leasing, contracting, security, insurance, civil rights, and tort liability present cutting-edge legal issues where research is useful and indeed needed. Airport legal research, when conducted through the TRB’s legal studies process, either collects primary data that usually are not available elsewhere or performs analysis of existing literature.
Foreword
There are many types of general aviation (GA) users that have leases with commercial service and GA airports. These include aeronautical service providers, corporate flight departments and other aircraft owners, and other users such as cargo, charter, and fuel farms. It can be assumed that there are common issues that arise during drafting and negotiating GA lease agreements, for example, standards for new construction, rent and fees, or escalated provisions. However, research for this digest revealed that most of the surveyed airports use templates for GA lease agreements that standardize lease terms. Among the different airports the leases analyzed carried similar provisions that differed according to the size of the airport, the requirements of state and local law, and the policies and practices in effect at each airport.
This digest will be helpful to airport managers, attorneys, and prospective tenants on developing GA lease agreements of airport property. It provides background on relevant legal issues, analysis of 16 GA lease terms, and a list of issues identifying the interests of Lessors and Lessees during negotiations. The 16 GA lease terms analyzed are: terms and renewals; rent/additional rent/adjustment to rent/force majeure; use of the premises; indemnity and exculpatory clauses; ground leases; damage to or destruction of the premises and improvements; airport security; assignment and subleasing; leasehold mortgages; default and termination; quiet enjoyment and lessor’s right of entry; reversion; condemnation; security deposits; maintenance and repairs; and lease clauses required by the federal regulation or statute.
