Airport privatisation and safety: Does ownership type affect safety?

In the summer of 2004, the Dutch cabinet decided on the privatisation of the largest airport in the Netherlands—Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AAS). Privatisation processes have generated policy questions which have focused on assuring that public values such as safety at airports remains at levels that are considered sufficient after privatisation takes place.In this article, an attempt is made to assess the effects of the proposed privatisation on the management of safety on and around the airport. As little empirical evidence exists about the potential effects of privatisation of airport operators on the safety of air transportation, the research used a ‘worst-case scenario analysis’ to assess potential effects of a (partial) privatisation of the airport operator. Based upon a detailed investigation of a number of activities performed by the airport operator and a comparative analysis of safety regulatory systems of two other European (partly) privatised airports, we conclude that the level of safety at the airport is not directly affected as a result of the (partial) privatisation of the airport operator, but that compared to the situation in which the airport operator remains a public entity, the safety regulatory system as a whole has become less robust.