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The differences between airport managers and transportation directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an airport manager and a transportation director. Additionally, a transportation director has an average salary of $51,314, which is higher than the $42,405 average annual salary of an airport manager.
The top three skills for an airport manager include customer complaints, business demands and human resources. The most important skills for a transportation director are DOT, logistics, and CDL.
| Airport Manager | Transportation Director | |
| Yearly salary | $42,405 | $51,314 |
| Hourly rate | $20.39 | $24.67 |
| Growth rate | 6% | - |
| Number of jobs | 5,664 | 23,622 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 65% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
An airport manager oversees all of an airport's activities. They are responsible for managing flights, communicating with all pilots on takeoff and landing, coordinating airport employees, and ensuring passengers' comfort. They resolve organizational issues and ensure that aviation safety policies are followed. Airports function as the door to a country, so they should be presentable, hospitable, and comfortable.
Transportation Directors are responsible for managing an organization's transportation operations. They are involved in supervising transportation projects, monitoring performance, research workflow processes, conduct strategic meetings with stakeholders, administer the budgeting process, and ensures programs comply with state and federal regulations. Besides that, transportation directors also work with the human resources department in employee recruitment as well as implementing training and orientations. Other duties include performing financial reports analysis and software tools testing.
Airport managers and transportation directors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Airport Manager | Transportation Director | |
| Average salary | $42,405 | $51,314 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $62,000 | Between $30,000 And $86,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | - | New York |
| Best paying company | - | Zulily |
| Best paying industry | - | Health Care |
There are a few differences between an airport manager and a transportation director in terms of educational background:
| Airport Manager | Transportation Director | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 65% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | SUNY Farmingdale | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between airport managers' and transportation directors' demographics:
| Airport Manager | Transportation Director | |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 75.1% Female, 24.9% | Male, 76.0% Female, 24.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.7% Asian, 6.1% White, 59.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.8% Asian, 6.1% White, 59.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |