The collapse in U.S. air traffic during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates the speed with which a severe public health emergency can devastate the air travel industry. It further illustrates how quickly an airport operator may have to react to a public health crisis. In the TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program’s ACRP Legal Research Digest 44: Airports Responding to Public Health Emergencies: Legal Considerations, Firm attorneys Peter Kirsch and Adam Gerchick discuss potential legal issues that airport sponsors and other stakeholders in the airport industry could confront as they address a future public health emergency.