For many small and medium-sized companies, receiving a contract or being subcontracted to work at an airport as large as Denver International Airport (DEN) can open up new doors, elevate the business’ profile and significantly improve its financial standing.
But premium increases for DEN-required vehicle insurance historically made working at the airport difficult and sometimes cost-prohibitive. The president of a professional quality control services company that has a contract with DEN shared with us that though its work requires employees to drive on the airfield, the cost to provide vehicle insurance went up more than 450% over five years. The company’s only path forward was to renegotiate much higher hourly rates with contractors. But at some point, small businesses can’t just pass along significant cost increases without potentially pricing themselves out of the market.
Once we started to understand the issue better, we learned that virtually every contractor and concessionaire that drove onto DEN’s airfield was experiencing increasing insurance costs; and many were starting to voice concerns. That’s when our risk management team looked for innovative solutions.
 Phillip A. Washington is chief executive officer of Denver International Airport, the third-busiest airport in North America by passenger traffic. He oversees a more than $10 billion dollar Capital Improvement Program to modernize the airport for 100 million annual passengers. |
Janet Bressler, our head of Risk Management, smartly identified that the airport’s important $10 million auto liability insurance requirement for airside driving had long been a significant hurdle for smaller and newer service providers trying to operate airside. She and her team wrestled with how to lower the cost of entry to create more opportunities for small businesses and lessen the financial burden on our current partners.
We acted to balance competing interests: maintaining protection for the airport while providing a way for contractors to meet insurance obligations. We issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking an insurance broker to partner on designing a program that could serve both interests.
Several companies responded and we engaged TrueNorth Companies to develop a program that would provide a simpler, more streamlined path to add $9 million excess auto liability coverage to a primary $1 million policy.
The resulting solution, called AirsideDrive, offers affordable coverage with up to 84% savings. In addition, it includes flexible monthly coverage and payments, paperless enrollment and an online autopay process.
When the AirsideDrive Program was announced to our list of contractors and concessionaires, companies were initially skeptical. Some worried that it was too good to be true.
But among the most-appreciated benefits is the “a la carte” nature of the product. A business can simply alert TrueNorth about its need to add a particular vehicle for short-term use on the airfield, and the increased cost can end whenever the task is finished.
There are three primary requirements for eligibility. First, businesses must have approved airfield access. Secondly, this program only covers vehicles designed for use on public roadways. Ineligible vehicles include autonomous vehicles, ground support vehicles, buses and mobile equipment such as golf carts, forklifts and construction equipment. Thirdly, the loss history of each applying company and its drivers is taken into consideration.
AirsideDrive has proved to be an innovative solution that effectively balances the need for risk management for DEN, while significantly reducing costs for small businesses and other airside partners—a rare win-win.
