Upgrading Fueling at a Major Hub Airport
The City of Charlotte owns and operates Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), one of the Country’s largest and busiest hub airports. Having just completed the negotiation of a new Airline Use Agreement (AUA), the City turned its attention to CLT’s lease of its fuel farm and fueling infrastructure. Airlines at the airport, like those at many other hub airports, sought to seek an airline fuel consortium to manage and upgrade the system. The City was open to the idea, provided it could address a few key issues: long-term financial and environmental liability, and clear expectations on how the system upgrades would be performed. The City, therefore, turned to A&K, which had also represented the City in its AUA negotiations, to represent it on fuel lease negotiations.
An Approach to a Mutually Beneficial Agreement.
A&K has represented hub airports throughout the country on fuel leases with consortia for decades, going back to when the first consortia was being formed. This, combined with A&K’s deep knowledge of operations and priorities at CLT, and its extensive environmental expertise, made A&K the right team to transition CLT to a consortia model. A&K provided the City creative options to address long-term liability issues, and to prioritize issues of importance to the deal. And, A&K also had the credibility with the airline consortia to craft solutions to issues of importance to both sides including ensuring a high-quality system would be built, and that it would be operated in a safe, reliable way. A&K, working steadfastly with the City was able to reach an agreement that allows for continued growth at CLT while preserving the Airport’s environmental and financial interests.