In April, the College welcomed Michael Zonsius, chief financial officer for Albany International Airport to discuss airport and financial operations. Zonsius has more than 30 years of comprehensive experience in government accounting and financial management. Prior to joining Albany Airport, Zonsius worked for Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Midway Interational Airport.  

Zonsius’s presentation discussed the multitude of complex financial operations responsible for running not just Albany Airport, but airports in general. He mentioned that much of his time spent as chief financial officer involved working on the annual budget and financial report. Zonsius also highlighted the challenging effects that COVID-19 pandemic had on airport operations noting that annual enplanements fell by more than 50 percent that year, and although numbers have improved since then, they have yet to reach pre-pandemic numbers.  

The second half of his presentation explained the environmental, social and ethical concerns airports face and shared several cases of ethical issues involving airports in the last few years and managing FAA complaints. The ongoing labor shortage is one of the more challenging issues facing most airports today.  

At the end of the event, students and faculty had the opportunity to ask Zonsius questions about airport financial operations and other aviation related issues including customer service experience programs and the impact of airline mergers have on airports.