Airport Insurance

An airport program is assembled from the following coverages. Which ones you need depends on whether you own the field, operate an FBO, sell fuel, perform maintenance, give instruction, or lease hangars to others.

• Airport premises liability. The core policy. Bodily injury and property damage arising anywhere on the field — terminal, ramp, apron, taxiways, runways, parking, fencing, and access roads — including claims brought by passengers, visitors, tenants, and pilots. Standard general liability policies exclude most of this.
• Hangarkeepers liability. Damage to aircraft belonging to others while stored, parked, or being serviced in your hangar or on your ramp. Written per aircraft and per occurrence, and the limit needs to reflect the most valuable aircraft you actually accept, not the average one.
• Products and completed operations. Liability for the fuel you sell, the maintenance and avionics work you perform, and the parts you install — including claims alleging a mishap resulted from your service. Fueling errors and misfueling are among the most severe aviation claims there are.
• Commercial property and business income. Hangars, terminal and office buildings, fuel farms and tanks, ground support equipment, lighting, navigational aids, and airfield improvements — plus lost fuel, rent, and service revenue while a facility is out of operation.
• Aircraft hull and liability. For aircraft the airport itself owns or operates: airport authority aircraft, flight school and rental fleets, aerial survey or charter operations. Hull covers physical damage, in flight and on the ground; liability covers injury and damage to others.
• Non-owned aircraft and instruction liability. Coverage for flight schools, clubs, and FBOs whose staff and students operate aircraft the business does not own — including instruction, checkout, and ferry flights.
• Environmental and pollution liability. Fuel farms, underground and above-ground tanks, refueling trucks, deicing fluid, and hydraulic and solvent releases. Storage tank liability is frequently a state licensing requirement, and remediation costs run well beyond the value of the spill.
• Workers' compensation. Medical care and lost wages for line and ramp crews, fuelers, mechanics, operations and maintenance staff, and administration. Ramp work is a high-hazard class, and jet blast, propeller, and vehicle incidents drive the severity.
• Commercial auto and ground equipment. Fuel trucks, tugs, belt loaders, deicers, snow removal equipment, mowers, and staff vehicles operating airside and on public roads — where a single vehicle strike on an aircraft becomes a seven-figure claim.
• Public officials, management and employment liability. For airport authorities, boards, and commissions: wrongful acts, land use and lease decisions, and employment claims from a workforce that is often unionized and public sector.
• Excess and umbrella liability. Additional limit above airport, hangarkeepers, products, auto, and employers liability. Sponsor grant assurances, municipal contracts, and airline use agreements typically prescribe a limit far above primary, and a single aviation loss can exhaust primary immediately.