DEI resources that support AMAC’s mission of advancing the full participation of minorities and women in employment and contracting opportunities throughout the aviation and aerospace industries.
Articles:
- September 14, 2022: “Workforce Diversity and Development in the UAS Industry”
June 18, 2022: “Aerospace Professionals Discuss Race in Aviation” - July 23, 2021: “Diversity in Aviation and Aerospace Industry Receives Attention in House Hearing”
- July 20, 2021: “‘Miserable’ Diversity Metrics in Aviation Spur Calls for Action”
- November 24, 2020: “How Color Biases Contribute to the Lack of Diversity in Aviation”
- November 23, 2020: “What’s Wrong with Aviation/Aerospace Diversity Strategies?”
Publications:
Reports:
Articles:
- September 14, 2022: “Workforce Diversity and Development in the UAS Industry”
June 18, 2022: “Aerospace Professionals Discuss Race in Aviation” - July 23, 2021: “Diversity in Aviation and Aerospace Industry Receives Attention in House Hearing”
- July 20, 2021: “‘Miserable’ Diversity Metrics in Aviation Spur Calls for Action”
- November 24, 2020: “How Color Biases Contribute to the Lack of Diversity in Aviation”
- November 23, 2020: “What’s Wrong with Aviation/Aerospace Diversity Strategies?”
Publications:
Reports:
Affiliate: Any individual or other legal entity that directly or indirectly owns or controls, or is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with the company. Commonly used by ACDBEs for annual reporting to mean any joint venture (JV) of which your company is a part or has any control.
Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE): A concession that is a for-profit small business concern that is (1) at least 51% owned by one or more individuals who are both socially and economically disadvantaged or, in the case of a corporation in which one or more such individuals own 51% of the stock; (2) and one or more of the socially and economically disadvantaged individuals who own it, controls the daily business operations.
Common Area Maintenance (CAM): Fees for the upkeep of a general area, usually seen in food court settings, but may include other services, e.g., trash removal, storage, grease waste removal, etc.
Capital Expenditure (CapEx): Capital Expenditure or Investment for a build- out, including equipment, furnishings, and construction.
Cost per Square Foot (C/SF): The dollars spent to build a location.
Commencement Date: Varies by the airport but often means when the lease is signed. In some airports, this is considered the initial/first date of the lease term.
Common Area: An unleased, unlicensed or non- designated area for exclusive or preferential use by a specific party or parties.
Concession Program: The planned development of retail, food and beverage and service concessions that make up an airport’s total program.
Cone of Silence: The period between the time a Request for Proposal (RFP) or other bidding offer is issued until it is awarded. During this time, you may not communicate with any government employees of that airport, particularly with any relevance to the current RFP or Bid. Doing so risks disqualification.
Consolidated Rental Car Center (CONRAC): Also called RCC for Rental Car Center.
Date of Beneficial Occupancy: Usually meant to define the date when premises are turned over for construction, and you are “occupying” the space. May or may not have rent due.
Developer: A private contractor hired by the airport to develop and operate the airport concessions program. They will typically not operate individual locations but will sublet them to operators.
Deplaning Passenger/Deplanement: Passenger exiting an aircraft typically spends much less money than those boarding a plane.
DBEs are for-profit small business concerns where socially and economically disadvantaged individuals own at least a 51% interest and also control management and daily business operations.
Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE): DBEs are for-profit small business concerns where socially and economically disadvantaged individuals own at least a 51% interest and also control management and daily business operations. African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian-Pacific and Subcontinent Asian Americans, and women are presumed to be socially and economically disadvantaged. Other individuals can also qualify as socially and economically disadvantaged on a case-by-case basis.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI): DEI encompasses the symbiotic relationship, philosophy and culture of acknowledging, embracing, supporting, and accepting those of all racial, sexual, gender, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds, among other differentiators.
Dwell Time: The amount of time a departing passenger spends within the airport (e.g., ticketing, clearing security and gate finding—also known as Commercial/Disposable Dwell Time.
Enplaning Passengers/Enplanement: People departing the airport on airplanes leaving the airport to their predetermined destinations.
Enplanement (EPAX): Enplaned passengers.
Evaluation Criteria: The criteria used to determine space award in an RFP/Bid process.
Evaluation/Selection Committee: A group chosen and assembled by the offering entity to assess Bid responses to RFPs.
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): The federal government agency that governs rules and regulations for airports
Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment (FF&E): A term often used to describe a portion of your construction budget.
Fixed Improvements: Addition, alteration, annexation or improvement which becomes part of the premises and cannot be removed, modified or changed without damage to, or destruction of, either itself or a portion of the premises.
Hub: An airport transfer point where travelers change planes to their destination; travelers are typically routed to a carrier’s hub when their originating market does not provide direct service to their destination.
Joint Ventures: A partnership between two companies, generally formed between a prime operator and a smaller, local company
Minimum Annual Guarantee (MAG): A concession operator must pay the airport the minimum amount of rent annually. It is paid monthly as 1/12th of the annual amount—this can also be called a MAPF or yearly minimum percentage fee.
Merchant Association Program (MAP): A fee for marketing and promoting the concessions program
Market Basket Study or Pricing Study: As part of a street pricing program, if you are not part of a national chain, airports may require you to provide comparable pricing from the market to support any requested price increases
Marketing Fee: Most lessors will charge 0.5% towards a marketing fund to promote the overall concessions program
Master: Master concessions contract, meaning they are generally the only operator of the concessions at the airport (may have sub-contractors).
Minimum Qualifications: A level of experience required by a landlord (i.e., government entity, developer, etc.) to be eligible to bid for an opportunity. Frequently, several years of similar experience with a specific annual sales target.
Multi-Modal Center: Like a consolidated rental car center, the building includes multiple modes of transportation such as parking or a train.
Mystery/Secret Shopping: A service often hired by either an operator or the landlord to monitor customer service and pricing
Non-Aeronautical Revenue: Any revenue source an airport receives that does not come from the airlines. Includes concessions, services, rental cars, sponsorships, real estate, etc.
Origin and Destination (O&D): Type of passenger traffic that begins at a certain point and arrives at their intended destination without being routed through a hub airport
Percentage Rent: In addition to the MAG, concessionaires shall pay rent percentage but only to the extent that the rent percentage exceeds the monthly installment of MAG, paid in advance for a said month or portion thereof.
Pre-Construction Meeting: A lease-required meeting with the airport and/or developer before the start of any construction,
Pre-Proposal Meeting: These are often conducted just after the release of an RFP as an outreach to the industry. Here you can ask questions and sometimes tour the available space(s). Sometimes these are mandatory for potential proposers.
Prime: Generally, a larger concessions operator who the airport contracts to operate a more significant percentage of the concessions at the airport.
Proposal Deposit: A cashier’s check or letter of credit is often required to accompany a response to an RFP. These are returned to unsuccessful proposers. It may also be called a bid bond, proposal bond or proposal guaranty.
Rendering: A graphic depiction of what you plan to build in a proposed space. The RFP process often includes renderings.
Rent Commencement Date: Date when you start paying minimum guarantee and percentage rent, if applicable.
Request for Information (RFI): Often less involved than an RFP.
Request for Proposal (RFP): The bid process that selects airport concession operators.
Request for Qualifications (RFQ): A similar bid process but less involved. They are often used to create a short list of firms that would receive the RFP.
Sales per Enplaned Passenger (SEP): The amount spent on concessions at the airport per enplaned passenger. Rather than sales per square foot, this is the primary way our industry measures performance.
Street Pricing: A lease requirement that all prices match stores an operator has on the street (traditional locations). Some airports may allow 10% (or another %) over “street.”
Sub or Sub-Leasing (Sub Tenant): A secondary contracting concessionaire, usually under a Prime or Master.
Tenant Design Manual (TDM): Describes the standards to which a location within the airport must be built. Names vary by airport.
Trade Fixtures: Something attached to the lessee’s leased property (or freestanding), which they are entitled to take with them after the lease ends. Property of the concessionaire (as compared to fixed improvements above).
Transfer or Connecting: A passenger that deplanes one airplane and boards another within the same airport.
Use Clause or Permitted Use: Most leases contain a section that designates what you can sell within your premises to protect the other concessionaires in your program. Typically, you must receive landlord permission to add a new category—
ACDBE: Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise
DBE: Disadvantaged Business Enterprise
MBE: Minority Business Enterprise
SBE: Small Business Enterprise
SBEC: Small Business Enterprise Concession
WBE: Women Business Enterprise
American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE)
Airport Council International (ACI) North America
Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC)
National Association of Black Women in Construction (NABWIC)
National Business Aviation Association (NBAA)
National Gay Pilots Association (NGPA)
National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC)
Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals
Transportation Research Board (TRB)