Q&A: St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson On Airport Privatization

For 17 months, St. Louis has been weighing the idea of leasing its airport to a for-profit entity. As a member of the city’s Board of Estimate and Apportionment, Mayor Lyda Krewson is among the three city officials who have the ultimate say in whether any deal goes through — the others being Comptroller Darlene Green and Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed.

Last week, the city’s airport working group approved a request for qualifications, which solicits potential bidders in order to gauge whether they can financially and operationally move forward in the process. On Thursday’s St. Louis on the Air, Mayor Krewson joined host Sarah Fenske and shared her thoughts on the airport privatization process, among other topics.

Asked whether the costly process of exploring privatization has made her more or less interested in leasing the airport, Krewson said the information garnered has been useful no matter what happens next. “I’m very interested in how we can make improvements to our airport via that information,” she said. “Whether that’s through privatization or not is a whole other question.”

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/qa-st-louis-mayor-lyda-krewson-airport-privatization