Immediately prior to taking over as aviation director at Phoenix Sky
Harbor International (PHX), Danny Murphy oversaw a $210M operating
budget, 1,400 employees and a five-year, $1.8B capital improvement
program as acting director of the Phoenix Water Services Department.
What experience did he have in the aviation industry? He knew he loved to travel.
“I had no aviation background other than being a traveler,” he says.
So he set about learning, spending the bulk of his first day on the job
not sitting at his desk poring over paperwork, but walking the airport’s
terminals, getting acquainted with employees and business partners, and
talking with travelers to find out whether they were satisfied with
their experiences.
Not much has changed. He still prefers walking the terminals or singing
the virtues of PHX and the two other city-owned airports, Phoenix Deer
Valley (DVT) and Phoenix Goodyear (GYR), at various community events.
He’s gained a reputation for his ability to illustrate to the region the
importance of a strong airport, and he’s highly respected by peers and
employees for his quiet demeanor and lack of micromanagement.
Murphy may not have known the aviation industry when he took the helm at
PHX, but he brought more than two decades of experience with the city
and a cache of leadership skills learned in the water department and
through time as the city’s chief information officer and director of its
information technology department.
“It’s really been a great experience here to have that broad of a
background,” he says. “It gave me a great background and confidence to
lead the airport system.”
His work in the city’s aviation department earned him ARN’s 2010 Director of the Year Award in the large airport category.
ARN: What are some of the highlights of your tenure thus far?
Murphy: The
biggest highlight is that when I came here in 2006, we were getting
ready to take to the mayor and city council a comprehensive, $3.1B,
10-year airport development plan. Getting unanimous support for the plan
was a major achievement and it set our direction for the future.
Part of that is the $644M PHX Sky Train project that is under
construction now. It’s a people mover that is going to connect with our
metro light rail to move passengers through the airport. It’s going to
change the way the airport operates.
On a more personal note, my biggest highlight is working with all the
great people. I’ve worked in a lot of places here at the city but
there’s something about the aviation family here, with the city, with
our airline partners and business partners. Everyone is just so focused
on doing a great job and very passionate about making this a great
airport system.
ARN: How did you prepare yourself for entering the aviation industry?
Murphy: Again, I think just my experience at the city for those
27 years managing pretty complex operations, learning how to work with
people and realizing the value of partnerships in getting things done –
that’s really kind of what paved the way for me.
What did I do when I got here? There was already a great staff and a
great management team in place. I just immersed myself in getting to
know people. After finding out where my office was, I hit the terminals
and started talking to employees and business partners and finding out
what was going on. It sounds simplistic, but it was just getting out
there and jumping in.
ARN: How have you created strong relationships with the community?
Murphy: That actually is one of the things I really recognized
quickly when I came here is how important the airport system is to the
metropolitan area and the whole state. We are the largest economic
engine in Arizona. I realized this is something the community wants to
know about, wants to be involved with. A great amount of my time is
spent talking to community groups and at different events, probably one
or two a week. The staff is also out involved, whether it’s talking
about the not-so-good aspects of the airport, like noise, or working
with the communities to the east and west of the airport, as well as all
the different stakeholders.
ARN: How are your passenger numbers, and how have they changed?
Murphy: Like
almost everyone, it’s been tough recently. The economy has hit almost
all industries and the airport is no different. For calendar year 2009,
we had 38 million passengers. To give you a comparison, in 2007 we had
42 million, our highest count. Over that past eight, nine, 10 years we’d
seen pretty steady increases. Then like most everyone else, in 2008,
2009 we experienced about a 5% decrease each year.
We immediately adjusted a number of things. Our capital programs and our
operating budgets we reduced immediately. We started really focusing on
being very cost effective for our business partners.
Read the rest of
this interview in the upcoming December 2010/January 2011 year end
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