Centerlines - January 2008 - (Page 38)

ON MANAGEMENT Explanatory Power of Benchmarking Poinsatte said there is definitely a benefit to benchmarking down to the micro level at DFW, but it is something that will take time. “Ultimately, I would like to (benchmark at the micro level) with seven or eight other airports that are mid-continent hubs,” he said. “That’s really what benchmarking is about—you identify the three or four airports that are like you, or however many it is, and then you have to make phone calls, you have to dig into the information, get your analysts with their analysts and really try to drive through.” Benchmarking, said Poinsatte, also serves as an explanation for the airport’s management team and board as to why one airport may be performing better or worse in an area than another. “You are constantly being compared against the other airports, and you get board member questions and executive questions, and this (data) helps to really understand what is the difference between Detroit, Minneapolis, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta. And this process, although painful sometimes, gets you those answers.” Comparative Power of Benchmarking 355035_infrastructure.indd 1 Another key to benchmarking is learning from other airports. Poinsatte said airports should look to other airports that are leading the industry and find out what they are doing differently. “You take their best practices and apply them. That’s really the crux of benchmarking,” he said. Infrastructure Management Group, Inc. (IMG) is a full-service infrastructure Airports must keep in mind, said consulting ﬁrm specializing in providing advisory services to airports to improve Poinsatte, that benchmarking is their management, ﬁnances, and operations. IMG’s mission is to help its clients bridge the gap between their infrastructure needs and ﬁnancial resources by just a tool. “It’s not the end-all of all focusing on efﬁcient management strategies, innovative revenue enhancement practices, creative capital ﬁnancing solutions, out-sourcing, best practices, and things. You have to know when to public-private partnerships. IMG offers integrated, highly insightful consulting apply it, when you can apply, when services to ensure that each component of the planning, development, and operations process is adequately inﬂuenced by the ﬁnancial capacity, cost you can’t apply it. You have to be characteristics, and revenue-generating environment of the facility. IMG’s careful from that standpoint. In other consulting services include: words, it’s not the only thing you • Strategic and Business Planning look at. You benchmark, questions • Organizational and Management Planning • Financing and Financial Advisory Services are generated, you dig into the ques• Benchmarking and Performance Management tions, and you find the answers.” • Economic Analysis • Innovative Revenue Enhancement Practices Poinsatte offered the example Our corporate motto of “bringing business to government” is a testament that if DFW’s goal is to grow sales to both the demands of our times and IMG’s commitment to its clients’ public per enplanement, the airport can service goals. hold an employee accountable for Please contact: relative improvement on sales per Jorge Gonzalez, Vice President Sasha Page, Vice President enplanement, but one cannot necesjgonzalez@imggroup.com spage@imggroup.com 4733 Bethesda Avenue, Suite 600, Bethesda, Maryland 20814 sarily hold that person responsible Phone: 301-907-2900 Fax: 301-907-2906 www.imggroup.com because the airport’s sales per enplanement are less than those of an airport like Pittsburgh, which has 11/29/07 1:06:10 PM a completely different retail structure in the airport. Said Poinsatte, “Here at DFW, only the passengers can buy concessions because we don’t have anything on the outside, whereas in Denver, Pittsburgh or Las Vegas, there’s a mall there, and people that are just dropping people off can come in and eat and buy things. So, I think you have to be careful, again, how you use it. It can’t be your only tool of measurement. “Pittsburgh’s higher than us. Why are they higher? Well, they get all these sales from people who aren’t passengers. Well, that’s a great idea. Where could we apply that concept at DFW? That’s how benchmarking works.” continued on page 45 12/4/07 10:46:40 PM 38 CENTERLINES | JANUARY 2008 356357_Arora.indd 1 http://www.imggroup.com http://www.aroraengineers.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Centerlines - January 2008

Contents President’s Message Canadian Airports Associates’ Corner Policy Center Regulatory Front On the Hill and On the Stump One on One: Dave Barger Revenue: The Concessions Awards Environment: O’Hare Expansion Passenger Focus: Houston Friendly Safety and Security: After Comair, What Next? Air Service Recruiting: Charleston’s Acquisition of AirTran On Management: Performance Benchmarking at DFW Now Underway Grand Opening Conference Previews and Reviews New Members Index of Advertisers/Advertiser.com Box Scores

Centerlines - January 2008

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