

In Canada, the federal authority, Transport Canada, divested itself of all but the remotest airports in 1999/2000. In the US, commercial airports are generally operated directly by government entities or government-created airport authorities (also known as port authorities), such as the Los Angeles World Airports authority that oversees several airports in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Los Angeles International Airport. In Pakistan nearly all civilian airports are owned and operated by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority except for Sialkot International Airport which has the distinction of being the first privately owned public airport in Pakistan and South Asia.

The rest of India's airports are managed by the Airports Authority of India. Bengaluru International Airport and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport are controlled by GVK Group. While in India GMR Group operates, through joint ventures, Indira Gandhi International Airport and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. Germany's Frankfurt Airport is managed by the quasi-private firm Fraport. For example, in the UK the state-owned British Airports Authority originally operated eight of the nation's major commercial airports – it was subsequently privatized in the late 1980s, and following its takeover by the Spanish Ferrovial consortium in 2006, has been further divested and downsized to operating just Heathrow. Most of the world's large airports are owned by local, regional, or national government bodies who then lease the airport to private corporations who oversee the airport's operation. The Berlin Brandenburg Airport is publicly financed by the states of Berlin and Brandenburg and the Federal Republic of Germany. Such airports rank among the most complex and largest of all built typologies, with 15 of the top 50 buildings by floor area being airport terminals. Such a base typically includes a stretch of open water for takeoffs and landings, and seaplane docks for tying-up.Īn international airport has additional facilities for customs and passport control as well as incorporating all the aforementioned elements.

An airport for use by seaplanes and amphibious aircraft is called a seaplane base. Types of airportsĪn airport solely serving helicopters is called a heliport. In US technical/legal usage, landing area is used instead of aerodrome, and airport means "a landing area used regularly by aircraft for receiving or discharging passengers or cargo". In jurisdictions where there is no legal distinction between aerodrome and airport, which term to use in the name of an aerodrome may be a commercial decision. That is to say, all airports are aerodromes, but not all aerodromes are airports. In some jurisdictions, airport is a legal term of art reserved exclusively for those aerodromes certified or licensed as airports by the relevant civil aviation authority after meeting specified certification criteria or regulatory requirements. However, in general, the term airport may imply or confer a certain stature upon the aviation facility that other aerodromes may not have achieved. In colloquial use in certain environments, the terms airport and aerodrome are often interchanged. The terms aerodrome, airfield, and airstrip also refer to airports, and the terms heliport, seaplane base, and STOLport refer to airports dedicated exclusively to helicopters, seaplanes, and short take-off and landing aircraft.
