In an effort to replace the revenue they used to get from airlines, some airports have found they can earn cash from slot machines, t-shirts, oil rigs and acres of hay.
In my article about this for Portfolio.com, I also found two airports where the naming rights are up for sale.
When you’re stuck at the airport, wouldn’t it be great if there was a place where you could take a shower and a nap or just close the door and watch a movie or get some work done?
In some airports there are. A great example is the YOTEL, the short-stay hotel located inside the South Terminal at London’s Gatwick airport.
The brainchild of Simon Woodroffe, a brash British entrepreneur who also created a conveyor belt-style chain of sushi bars called YO! Sushi, the 46-room Gatwick YOTEL offers rooms that are a cross between what you might find in a Japanese pod-hotel and an amenity-rich first-class airplane cabin. But these rooms also include full showers, flat-screen TVs, wireless Internet access and room service.
Travelers can book a YOTEL room for as little as four-hours. So it seems ideal for those times when you’ve just come off a long flight or have a super early departure in the morning. Prices start at about $50 for a standard cabin for the minimum four-hour booking, but during August, to celebrate the GATWICK YOTEL’s first anniversary, overnight stays will go for under $100.
Not traveling through Gatwick? There’s a 32-cabin YOTEL in Terminal 4 at London’s Heathrow airport and another YOTEL scheduled to open at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport later this year.
So sleep tight – but sleep fast!
While airlines are having well-publicized financial woes, many airports are doing quite well. One reason: travelers spend money when they’re stuck at the airport. Another: both general aviation and commercial airports figured out long ago that they need to diversify their income.
Leases for farming, hotels, and golf courses on airport-owned land are popular. But while doing research for an article on this topic, I discovered that some airports are far more creative.
Some airports earn money from auctioning off surplus equipment (snowplows, trucks, computers, etc.) and stuff left behind at the security checkpoints. Others are getting big bucks for the oil and gas and mineral rights on airport land. And then there are these two intriguing examples:
Since the mid-1950’s, the Sebring International Raceway has been operating on land owned by the Sebring Regional Airport in Florida. The racetrack is used year-round, for everything from automobile and tire testing to racing schools, corporate events, and the well-known Sebring endurance race.
And in Missouri, the new Branson Airport is set to open next spring. But it probably won’t be called that on opening day. The country’s first privately financed airport has put the naming rights for the entire airport up for sale.
