How To Become An Airport Duty Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is an airport duty manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an airport duty manager. For example, did you know that they make an average of $23.16 an hour? That's $48,173 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 189,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreAirport Duty ManagerUS Average

Salary

3.8

Avg. Salary $48,173

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.7

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.64%

Asian 4.88%

Black or African American 5.94%

Hispanic or Latino 14.01%

Unknown 7.22%

White 67.30%

Gender

female 20.00%

male 80.00%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress level

8.7

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.0

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an airport duty manager

Explore airport duty manager education requirements

Most common airport duty manager degrees

Bachelor's

52.9 %

Master's

23.5 %

Certificate

5.9 %

Start to develop specific airport duty manager skills

Skills	Percentages
FAA	51.57%
Emergency Situations	21.69%
NOTAMs	14.84%
Airside	11.90%

Complete relevant airport duty manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New airport duty managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an airport duty manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real airport duty manager resumes.

Research airport duty manager duties and responsibilities

Manage day to day operations including, supervising all fueling operations, issuing NOTAMs, and airport maintenance.
Provide general daily oversight of airside operations including safety inspections, pavement and electrical inspections, maintenance and repair.
Create safety policies and security procedures for one of DoD's highest threat awareness airfield environments in the world.

Apply for airport duty manager jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an airport duty manager job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do airport duty managers rate their job?

4/5

Based on 1 ratings

5 stars

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1 star

Airport duty manager reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2020

Pros

The interaction with different agencies and people from around the world the chance to learn the ins and outs of an airport also learning the different call signs and lighting's having the authority and responsibility over millions of dollars in equipment and the responsibility of keeping the lives of families safe

Cons

Nothing

4.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019