Coordinating the Airport Workforce Across Multiple Employers
Airport operators are increasingly held accountable for operational and customer service outcomes that depend on a workforce they do not directly employ. Passengers interact with employees from numerous organizations operating at an airport—including airport staff, airlines, concessionaires, contractors, ground handlers, TSA, and other federal agencies—while generally viewing the airport as a single entity. Although airports have limited direct authority over many of these employees, they are expected to provide a consistent customer experience and coordinate expectations, standards, training, and performance across this multi-employer environment. The objective of this research is to develop practical, airport-controlled coordination mechanisms that help airport sponsors improve workforce outcomes without relying on policy changes or new technology. The research will develop governance and influence models, best practices and template language for workforce coordination agreements, and tools for aligning training, service standards, and performance expectations across multiple employers to support a consistent organizational culture across the airport community. The project will also produce an implementation toolkit with templates, playbooks, metrics, and case studies to help airports of varying sizes coordinate a fragmented workforce, including airports that have limited resources to support these efforts.
- Record URL:
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Supplemental Notes:
- Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Proposed
- Funding: $400,000.00
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Contract Numbers:
Project 06-15
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Sponsor Organizations:
Federal Aviation Administration
800 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC United States 20591 -
Managing Organizations:
Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP)
Transportation Research Board
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Project Managers:
Griffin, Matthew
- Start Date: 20260831
- Expected Completion Date: 0
- Actual Completion Date: 0
- USDOT Program: Airport Cooperative Research Program
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Airports; Coordination; Governance; Organizational factors; Personnel
- Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Aviation; Terminals and Facilities;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 02001729
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
- Contract Numbers: Project 06-15
- Files: TRB, RIP
- Created Date: Sep 3 2026 8:36AM