Miami International Airport (MIA) CEO Emilio González has given notice that he is resigning from his post, although he has insisted that this is not connected to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s decision to transfer the airport’s retail leasing function out of the airport and into county hall.

 

González has carved out a good reputation in the four years he has led MIA, where he is generally credited with successfully managing the final stages of the multi-billion dollar capital improvement programme at MIA.

 

As a result, his apparent sudden decision to leave the Miami-Dade Aviation Department on February 1, 2018 has taken many by surprise.

 

COUNTY HALL NOW HANDLES LEASING

This announcement follows what appears to have been growing tensions between the CEO and the Mayor’s office and not least following Mayor Gimenez’s relatively recent decision to remove retail leasing from González’s list of responsibilities – an area where he has historically been very hands on.

 

This also follows earlier requests from an umbrella group of Miami’s concessionaires to CEO González for a special extended period rent relief gesture from MIA for up to one year. This related to several days’ sales losses attributed to the airport shutdown period caused by Hurricane Irma.

 

In addition, concessionaires said their businesses had also been adversely impacted by the shorter layover times being exercised by some airlines much earlier in the year – so leaving less time for passengers to shop and dine.

 

However, this request as a ‘whole’ was not viewed sympathetically by González, or indeed subsequently by the mayor’s office, with the latter suggesting instead that some compensation for non-operational days – identified in an internal memo as 5.5 days due to Irma – would be as far as it was prepared to go.

 

RENT RELIEF FROM IRMA TOTALS $1.1M

As a result, Mayor Carlos Gimenez wrote the following in a memo to the Miami-Dade County Members and Board of County Commissioners on October 30, 2017.

 

It reads: “In response to the September 18, 2017 letter addressed to MDAD Director, Emilio González requesting MAG relief for a one-year period attributable to the closure and resultant loss of sales due to Hurricane Irma, I asked staff to report to me exactly how long MIA was shut down for this event and to identify the corresponding MAG for all concessionaires for this time period.

 

“MDAD reported that the airport was ‘closed’ for a total of 5.5 days and the corresponding MAG would be $1,145,477. All concessionaires have a Force Majure clause in their concession agreement that provides for relief if the airport were to suffer an ‘extreme weather event’. I am therefore recommending that all concessionaires be granted MAG relief for this 5.5-day period.”

 

‘BIG POTENTIAL CHANGES?’

Meanwhile, Mayor Gimenez is now also reported to be favouring a change in the future concessionaire leasing system at Miami Airport, by bringing in a master concessionaire to manage the retail and food and beverage functions.

 

If this eventually happens, then it will transfer direct-line responsibility and direct control of retail and F&B functions at Miami International from the airport to county hall.