Does your airport investment stack up?
- clients400
- Jul 15
- 2 min read
Making smarter decisions with pre-feasibility.
For councils managing regional airports, land is often your biggest untapped asset.
When capital is tight and pressure to drive revenue grows louder, proposals for freight hubs, industrial precincts or retail spaces can sound promising. But how do you know if a project will genuinely stack up?
That’s where pre-feasibility comes in. Before you commit time and budget to a full-scale feasibility study, this early-stage assessment lets you test assumptions, understand costs and explore where the returns actually lie.
That means undertaking a systematic examination of:
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Anticipated costs
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Associated risks
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Potential benefits
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Alignment with strategic objectives
Start with the right questions, not just the numbers
Good pre-feasibility isn’t a spreadsheet exercise. It’s a structured way to understand whether the opportunity suits your land, your region and your stakeholders.
We often start with questions like:
Is the concept right for this site?
Some land simply isn’t viable for certain developments due to airport overlays, noise restrictions, environmental constraints or land access issues. Understanding what’s possible (and what’s not) is step one.
Who’s the market – and will they come?
A particular development might seem logical, but unless there’s proven economic demand, you’re building blind. Grounding your idea in market analysis helps ensure it meets real needs.
What will it take to make it viable?
Site preparation costs – like utilities and access requirements – can dramatically increase the costs behind a good idea. Early infrastructure assessments help surface these risks.
What kind of return are we talking about?
Not every project needs to generate revenue tomorrow, but it does need to justify investment. Pre-feasibility modelling helps you see whether a concept unlocks long-term income or just soaks up short-term capital.
When land is under pressure, modelling brings clarity
We’ve worked with many clients who have had underdeveloped land – sometimes leading to years of missed income opportunities. They did not lack ambition, but they also didn’t have a clear pathway forward. Pre-feasibility ties together constraints, opportunities and economics to provide that pathway.
Better decisions now, stronger outcomes later
Pre-feasibility gives you a disciplined, evidence-based way to assess whether your next infrastructure proposal is worth the next step.
For landowners, that means understanding how to leverage your land assets to drive growth with development. Instead of ‘checking boxes’, you’re putting limited resources to work in a way that supports long-term viability.
If your airport has land that’s ready for a rethink, the smartest investment might be the one that happens before a shovel touches the ground.
Talk to the PSA Infrastructure team
You don’t need to have all the answers before you start planning, but you do need the right questions.
If you’re considering how best to invest in your airport land or infrastructure, we can help build the case for what’s feasible, valuable and aligned with your long-term goals.
