In general terms, the management structure of an airport represents three main components:

  • ? airport management, defined by its legal status;
  • the airport administration, defined by the organizational form established by the management;
  • unit managers and related staff, established by the management and the airport administration.

The airport management generally develops the strategy, goals and objectives, determines the resources that can be used and the level of service for the required scope of services and construction work.

The administration coordinates production processes, informs management and monitors compliance with technical and technological standards in the performance of various types of services and work.

Department managers and staff directly perform specific types of work on ground support of air transportation.

The management structure of the airport operation and the administrative structure of the airport itself is developed and formed depending on a large number of factors of both external and internal environment of the given airport, being in specific conditions of these environments. There is no model of administrative structure that is appropriate for any airport. Airports differ in their status and their importance in the overall air transport system by the type and volume of traffic, differ in their relationship to state and government agencies, and differ in their connections within their territorial location.

The development of the administrative structure is greatly influenced by the internal relationships at the airport with various organizations, agency companies, individual customers, etc. The administrative structure of an airport depends entirely on its organizational and legal structure.

Not the last factor influencing the organizational structure of an airport is the specific activities and abilities of individuals, their capacities and personal responsibilities.

Thus, taking into account certain conditions of the airport, the airport administration can create its own structure based on the role which it assigns to itself in the whole activity of the airport. The administration can handle a variety of general tasks with minimal input into most internal airport tasks. This model is most often used by the administration at airports in the United States. In Europe, and in most domestic airports, the administrative model is based on the fact that the airport administration itself carries out most of the internal tasks of the airport.

As a rule, large manufacturing enterprises and organizations have two divisions in the management structure: a division of human resources management and management of production services. The structure of a particular airport when divided into two management functions has a lot of differences and peculiarities. The personnel department handles the administrative management of airport personnel, it is small in number, but has a great responsibility for decision making, which has a great impact on the functioning of the airport. The Production Services Departments are responsible for the continuous operation and operational maintenance of all airport complexes. Compared to the personnel department, they require a large staffing level.

Depending on the form of interaction (information) of the staff offices, production services with the airport administration, there are different structural administrative models.

The first structural model (a) (staff model) implies that the staff office (administration) is directly linked to the airport director. This structure is characteristic of large airports for the reason that it provides a position for the administration in which the administration makes basic management decisions and is not involved in day-to-day decision making.

The second structure (b) (linear-functional) implies that the staff departments (administration) are not directly subordinated to the director and carry out their activities independently, ensuring a large involvement of the administration in solving production tasks.

In the third structure (c) (linear) personnel and production departments are directly subordinated to the airport director. This structure is characteristic of small airports, in which the functions of the staff are simple and the airport administration is directly involved in the daily management of the airport.