Book excerpt: Foundations of Airport Economics and Finance analyzes the impact key economic indicators play on an airport's financial performance. As rapidly changing dynamics, including liberalization, commercialization and globalization are changing the nature of airports worldwide, this book presents the significant challenges facing current and future airports. Airports are evolving from quasi-monopolies to commercial companies operating in a global environment, with ever-increasing passenger and cargo volumes and escalating security costs that put a greater strain on airport systems. This book highlights the critical changes that airports are experiencing, providing a basic understanding of both the economic and financial aspects of the air transport industry. Identifies the economic roots of airport financial performance and how the interplay of its major parameters affects profitability Bridges the gap between the latest airport academic research and real-world airport financial management Covers cases and scenarios of numerous airports from around the world Includes learning aids, such as chapter introductions and summaries, glossary and appendices