Taking a Gamble

During 2007, the Reno-Tahoe International Airport earned $3.7 million from 245 slot machines that have been scattered throughout the facility since 1980. And last year, the 1,300 slot machines that have been a fixture at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas since roughly 1985 yielded more than $40.9 million for the Clark County Department of Aviation. McCarran's spokesman, Chris Jones, says that represents about 12 percent of the department's $332.7 million overall revenue for the year.

Making Hay

At the 10,000-acre George Bush Intercontinental Airport and the 2,500-acre Ellington Field in Houston, airport officials are banking on the land. "As they say, everything is bigger in Texas, and here in Houston we have lots of open land at our airports," says Rick Vacar, director of the Houston Airport System.

A few years ago, Vacar authorized the planting of Bermuda hay and the higher-protein Tifton 85 hay on airport land. In 2006, 800 acres of airport hay was sold locally through a broker, bringing in $30,000. More was planted in 2007, but none was cut because the contractor backed out of the job. This year airport employees will step in, harvesting more than 2,000 acres of hay and an estimated $500,000. So far, the profits are being plowed back into the program, but airport officials hope the investment will pay off in the future.

Digging for Dough

In Denver and Dallas/Fort Worth, the airports reap profits not only from what's on the ground, but what's beneath it.

The 34,000-acre Denver International Airport leases land for commercial real-estate projects and to farmers who plant soybeans, sunflowers, and wheat. The airport also reaps $4 million to $6 million a year from more than 50 oil and natural-gas wells that have been on airport property since it opened in 1995. (Many predate the airport itself.) While the airport's overall budget is more than $500 million, "every little bit helps," says airport spokesman Chuck Cannon.

The 18,000-acre Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport earns about 65 percent of its revenue from non-airline sources, including two golf courses and the upscale Grand Hyatt D.F.W. in International Terminal D. The airport also sits on a giant natural-gas deposit, the Barnett Shale. In 2006, D.F.W. sold drilling rights to an energy company for a $186 million "signing bonus" and 25 percent royalties. Today, 40 wells bring in about $3 million a month in royalties. A total of up to 300 gas wells on airport property are planned over the next 15 to 20 years. D.F.W.'s C.E.O., Jeff Fegan, says the income is a form of "rent control" for airlines and a boon to passengers—the airport used $40 million from the initial drilling bonus to renovate its original four terminals.

Naming a Solution

Detroit Metro Airport never installed the Viagra ads, but it is taking a lesson from the sports world. In 2007, airport officials put naming rights for the new north terminal, set to open this fall, up for sale. GSA-McConnell, the marketing partnership created to sell those rights, won't disclose the asking price, but right now there seem to be about 10 interested parties. Next up, advertising on your luggage?