Houston Airport System proposes $738.7 million FY26 budget; moves Skyway and parking contracts into operating budget

Houston Airport System Director Jim Sechniak and Chief Financial Officer Clint Steven told the City Council budget workshop that the airport system’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget projects $738,700,000 in total revenue, a 4.8% increase over the FY25 estimate, and that an accounting change will move roughly $62,800,000 in Skyway and parking contract costs from the airport’s AIF fund into its operating (O&M) budget.

The reclassification is intended to make recurring contract costs more transparent, Sechniak said, and to simplify questions from rating agencies and underwriters. “It looks like an expense. It smells like an expense, so we’re going to move it back into operating expense,” Clint Steven said during the presentation.

Why it matters: moving the Skyway maintenance and parking contracts into O&M makes those costs visible in the airport’s operating budget and creates an across-the-board increase in contracted…