He believes that with the industry in its current condition, at some point an airport will default on its debt obligations and suggests that airports look to the bond market for refunding old debt rather than issuing new debt. As Goldschmidt has noted, airports are beginning to see that opportunity. Terry Parker, executive vice president of Aviation Planning Associates, a Cincinnati-based consulting firm specializing in the aviation industry, cautions that the ratings agencies are a little wary of airports that depend too heavily on one particular source of revenue. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. But if you have a broad spectrum of strengths, you don't have to worry about it.
Airports continue to have capital needs despite the industry's condition.
Airlines still see PFCs as adding to their cost, arguing that elastic passenger demand means they absorb the PFC and that they still must pay operations and maintenance costs on PFC expenditures. PFCs, however, are becoming standard and are not subject to airline vetoes. But PFCs alone are not yet sufficient to back a major bond financing. Those concerns notwithstanding, PFCs have been used as security in debt financing. Port Authority has used PFCs for debt financing without using them to back bonds.