You run an airport, and nobody knows its ins and outs better than you do. You know how things get done, what needs to get done, who does what and how. You have your finger on the pulse of safety, efficiency and revenue.

The same is true for airport consultants and suppliers. If anyone has an idea for improvements and enhancements, it should be you, right?

So how is it that someone who doesn’t know a single thing about running an airport can provide a suggestion that makes it better? It happens all the time and comes under the heading of listening — listening to your passengers, your tenants and perhaps even your spouse or kids.

This happened to me last week, when I received the following e-mail from my friend Roddy Boggus:

“I was thumbing through your latest magazine today on the plane and realized that I have a need, an ongoing need, for much of the information you have in your magazine. Over the years now, you list projects, their costs, who the consultants are, etc. In the past, I’ve tried to tear out the pages and save them, enter all the information into a database or just keep all the magazines. However, none of that is working.

I would sure like a way to have all of that information at my fingertips. Either on a card that can be filed by airport, or better yet access to a searchable database where I can search by airport three-letter code, consultant, etc.“

Great idea, Roddy! I’m on www.airportimprovement.com every day, and never thought of this logical
improvement. Duh!

Our website has always allowed users to search for content by issue, author or key word, but not by
airport code. Thanks to Roddy’s e-mail, and our webmaster’s programming talent, we recently
added airport codes as a search option.

I guess it just goes to show: great ideas do come from the head — but sometimes they start in the ears, not the brain.

Cheers!

-Paul