Chad R. Makovsky, C.M. was named City of Phoenix Director of Aviation Services in March 2021, returning to Phoenix after serving as the Executive Vice President of Operations at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport since March 2017. Prior to DFW Airport, Chad worked as Assistant Aviation Director for the City of Phoenix system of airports, including Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, and Phoenix Goodyear Airport. He also held positions in operations at Burbank Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, and America West Airlines over his 32-year professional career. 

AzAA Associate Director Joel Ericson spoke with Makovsky in January 2022 to get an update on Sky Harbor coming into the new year. 

Having come from an operational background, what have you enjoyed the most about your transition to executive leadership as Airport Director? 

I grew up in the industry in operations. Even at DFW, I was Executive Vice President of Operations. This new role as director has given me a chance to take those things I knew about at Phoenix Sky Harbor and learn a lot more at a higher level in the organization. I now have a broader, more strategic view of the issues affecting the airport and the community we serve. It’s been a great opportunity to learn a lot of new things. I knew about many of these strategic issues from the periphery before but never had to confront them. That has been a lot of fun. I’ve enjoyed being able to set strategy. 

I also enjoy getting to advocate for the airport and our team, representing our airport in our community. During the pandemic, building alliances with our business partners has been crucial. I really enjoy these things in this role. 

I get to take positions on issues that I never knew if I’d be comfortable or even able to do from my previous roles. When I’m talking to groups and associations such as AzAA I can say this is what I think and why, and it’s on behalf of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. As Director this role lets me put a stake in the ground on some of the views and positions in our industry. 

Are there any key ideas you’re bringing with you from your time at DFW? 

I think it’s important to start off with what is different with an airport like Sky Harbor as opposed to DFW. DFW has an airport board organization which operates like an Authority. Whereas Sky Harbor is municipally run, it’s a department in the city that reports to the City Manager’s office, which reports to the Mayor and Council. Municipalities, for all the right reasons, are more deliberate in their decisions due to their responsibilities to provide services to the community. That can sometimes result in a pace that is slower than an Authority-run system. For example, if I had an interaction with a business partner and I need an action on that I could receive approval in as few as 45 days at DFW whereas with the City I have to plan on 3 months. That pace in a schedule-driven industry can be a challenge at times. Fortunately, the Mayor and Council are very thoughtful to ensure the airport has all the authority it needs for urgent items.  

A takeaway from DFW is that, even with that pace set by processes within the city, there are ways to be innovative and deliberate within the system. We have to think through issues to be able to move forward with contracts more efficiently. We have to identify the challenges that face us and see where the opportunities lie. Think about the pandemic for example. When I formerly worked at PHX there was no capability to e-sign documents let alone work remotely from home. It’s been a forced innovation, but now we have processes for working from home and being more efficient and reducing paper use/waste. The city has been helpful and supportive in realizing these innovations. 

DFW is considered a world leader in sustainability and am very proud to have been a part of the work there. The sustainability team reported to me. Sky Harbor employees will tell you I talk about sustainability a lot. It’s very important for our industry. The writing has been on the wall since well before the pandemic. While the pandemic has distracted us momentarily, focus on sustainability is going to resurface.  At Sky Harbor our airline business partners, concessions partners, the Mayor and Council, and our community are all focused on sustainability. I’m going to be the biggest champion and cheerleader for our team as we embark on a strategy to get us to net-zero carbon emissions well before the 2050 United Nations goal. We are working with our business partners to support them with achieving their sustainability goals as well. 

What most excites you about the coming years of work at PHX? 

The sustainability road map is one of the top things. We will be doing great work there; I want us to be a national, if not international, leader in that space. We have the runway to do that. 

We had a $6B masterplan approved by the council in 2019. We are validating that right now. I look forward to a lot of good work redeveloping the airport to meet the needs of our customers going forward. 

I also look forward to embarking on opportunities related to the digital space. We need to continue to innovate and adopt technologies that take advantage of the digital world around us. We are already doing some great things. We are working with our custodians to make sure we don’t run out of paper stock in the restrooms using digital sensors. We are also piloting autonomous floor scrubbers. We are doing a lot of fun things to take advantage of the digital world around us, all while improving the services we provide to our customers. 

I’ve heard you discuss some of the staffing issues that have challenged PHX’s recovery. What other unique challenges have you been facing as traffic continues to recover? 

Our recovery is exceeding expectations and while this recovery has presented some unique challenges during the pandemic, I keep telling our business partners and elected officials it’s a good problem to have. It’s wonderful to see Sky Harbor rebound; we are one of the fastest recovering in the nation. Workforce is an example of the challenges facing the industry; this has impacted our airline partners, concessions providers, and even our own City of Phoenix team. We have a bit over 20% vacancy rate right now and about three dozen employees out on pandemic leave. This is unfortunately placing a lot of additional stress and strain on the remaining workforce. If nothing else the pandemic has shown us it is unpredictable and we continue to remain flexible with our policies and expectations to be supportive of our employees and business partners. 

Aside from workforce, Phoenix is the fastest growing city in the United States. We are seeing a lot of investment in the region. TSMC, Intel, Motorola, Facebook, autonomous vehicle companies, and battery and solar companies are all making investments in the city and the region. That’s doing two things. One, at all of our airports, we have to pay attention to encroachment because land that was sitting vacant or had compatible uses at one point could be subject to development interests that could create encroachment issues or other incompatible use issues. These issues could constrain the airport’s ability to grow and serve the community. Two, that same activity is consuming a lot of resources that airports have generally come to expect are available. Supply chain challenges, resource challenges, construction trade shortages; all these things are on the horizon, and we’ll have to keep our eyes on that as development continues. 

How have supply chain issues affected ongoing construction and project work? 

We had two huge construction projects in the works when I came on board; the new Southwest Concourse at Terminal 4 and the PHX Sky Train® extension. We were fortunate that based on the timing of those projects our primes had already bought out all the materials in advance of the pandemic; so, they were minimally impacted. 

We are seeing some sensitivity when it comes to smaller, job-order type contracts. First, costs are going up; we are seeing material cost increases. Second, with labor shortages and delays in delivery we are seeing delays of up to 6-8 weeks on some projects as it relates to waiting on materials. We’ve also had some projects delayed just due to pandemic-related staff shortages. 

A good example is a police air support hangar at Deer Valley Airport. The final estimates came in around 20% over what we were budgeting. That blew our budget and we had to go back to the Police Department and see what potential, creative value-engineering could be done to keep the project moving forward. So now we are faced with the dilemma of either waiting to see if prices go down because it’s just a timing issue, or putting it on the market to see if the estimates are flawed. We are going through that exercise now. 

Looking at the CAMP as proposed in 2019, now slowed down a bit due to Covid, are there any things you plan on changing? 

CAMP, short for Comprehensive Asset Management Plan, is a $6B program of investment at Sky Harbor and we don’t yet have a plan of finance for that whole sum. This is typical for a program of this size and timeline. 

Shortly after I came on board, I felt it was appropriate to do a program update or revalidation given that CAMP was approved in 2019 but used 2016 data, and given the effects of the pandemic and how it has changed the way we think about and do business. We’ve been working on that over the past year and are wrapping it up now. We are taking this review to the Phoenix Aviation Advisory Board for consideration. If they give a favorable recommendation it will go to Council this Spring. 

I don’t see any wholesale changes in the master plan. What you will see is some minor realignment of projects based on current priorities. We also have the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill funding we want to capitalize on to make sure we are using that smartly on the projects in our portfolio. I would expect we’ll be advancing Taxiway U, the crossover taxiway at the west side of Sky Harbor with that funding. 

We see Terminal 3 as the next increment in our terminal development where we add 6 new gates on the north side. We are working toward that being a candidate for the $5B competitive element of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. 

And then what you might see on the northwest corner of the airport, we have some older hangars from back in the general aviation days and we want to redevelop and revitalize that area. So I expect you’ll see some activity there in the coming year or so. 

Finally, like Mr. Bennett, my predecessor, I’m interested in a premium hotel offering in our terminal environment at Sky Harbor. That’s probably not much of a surprise having just come from DFW. You’ll be hearing more about that in the near future. 

Are there any new considerations in balancing airside/landside/terminal facilities? 

That is somethin

g that I had asked the team to look at in reevaluating CAMP. If you look at the approved plan you’ll see a lot of emphasis on terminal development, clearing the way for terminal growth, new gates, etc. This is great but this all has to work in harmony and we are only as good as our weakest link. Airside, landside, and terminal must be in balance. 

Given our three runways and the constraints we face that make the likelihood of a fourth runway very remote, I’d asked the team to look hard at the airfield and see if we need to do more there. In discussing this with our airline stakeholders and the FAA, what they learned is that given some recent federal regulation changes with regards to weight and balance and the hot days we have in Phoenix we are seeing more airlines wanting to use our north runway (the longest) for departures. But it is our primary arrival runway and interleaving departures on it creates capacity constraints. So, what they asked of us was to consider extending our center runway to match the north so that it has more departure capacity on those hot days. That’s an example of how we are working to balance our assets. 

The second big thing is that we are going to move forward with development that supports the realignment of Sky Harbor Boulevard. Now that we have Terminal 2 torn down, we have the room to start on projects to straighten out the boulevard and increase roadway capacity.  

Will you ever be able to eliminate the cross-traffic that travels on Sky Harbor Boulevard instead of the surrounding highways I10 and I17? How is that going to work? 

That is a challenge. At DFW they put in control/toll plazas and they charge a fee to come on to the airport property. It’s more of a challenge to do something like that here. We’ve looked at closing access to one end of the airport effectively creating a cul-de-sac but that creates some winners and some losers in terms of usability; we don’t see that as a viable solution. Texas as a state is very tolerant and accepting of tollways and plazas. We don’t see that being supported here and it’s also not the likely solution. The master plan does include proposed security control plazas at both ends of Sky Harbor Boulevard which will allow us to better manage vehicles that are coming on to and traveling through the airport. We are hoping this will also have the effect of minimizing cut-through traffic. 

What are the biggest concerns for the PHX team with the proposed Tempe development? 

We have two really big issues, and then in a third bucket we have several other more routine issues to consider. 

The two big issues are building heights and incompatible land uses. Our current assessments are showing potential for bottom-of-landing-gear to rooftop separation of about 400 feet. Our south two runways are two of the busiest runways in Arizona with large aircraft coming all day and all night, passenger and cargo. Having those buildings so close to the flight path is a concern to us. The developer has assured us they have done some evaluation with a consultant who is knowledgeable of FAA processes and procedures. We are doing our own independent assessment with the data we have now and we are working with our airline business partners to gauge their comfort with what is being proposed. We have to address that to be sure the building doesn’t become a permanent obstruction to safe air navigation. 

The taller buildings proposed are intended to be residential, though we aren’t sure if they’ll be condos or apartments. They sit squarely within the 65 DNL contour of the airport which makes them an incompatible use. As a federally obligated airport sponsor, we have an obligation to oppose any incompatible land uses. The developer has stated they are willing to mitigate this with noise insulation, avigation agreements and noise disclosures. But that doesn’t make the use compatible.