Airport planning or urban planning grad school?

[viva las vegas]

I'm trying to decide which path to take. There's Cranfield grad school in the UK that has an Airport Planning masters. Or I can get an Urban Planning degree from a US accredited school.

Obviously, the Airport Planning degree is very specific and more information based, where as an urban planning degree seems more apt to give me analytical skills and a broader base of knowledge.

I like the flexibility of the urban planning degree (if my future interests change) and the fact that its accredited. (though not sure how much that matters) I like the Airport Planning degree because it might really help me springboard into the aviation industry.

I've thought about doing an urban planning degree specializing in transportation but I'm not sure if that will be good enough to get me into airports.

What are your thoughts?

[Tide]

I hope this can be helpful.

Through my job I have dealt with many airport managers both military and civilian and none of them are AICP or what we would consider classically trained planners. Airport planning deals a lot with regulations, clear zones, dimensions, and construction management. Most of the airport planners I have met are engineers by trade or retired military airport managers and airport "planners" and usually have "grown up" with an individual airport and don't move around much. If you do enjoy airports you could possibly consider airport management and start at a smaller regional airport and work your way up that direction.

Hope that helps, I do agree that it is a specialized field.

[Brocktoon]

I think Tide is dead on with his comments. I would also add if you really want to work in the aviation field then it will be very helpful to have at least your private pilot's license. It will not a requirement to apply be it will score you a extra point or two during the hiring process and after you start.

[Boston Blueberry]

I'm also interested in airport planning, having worked for an airline for the past couple of years and having a few planning internships on my resume. I'm also worried about a degree in Aviation Planning being too specific, so I'm thinking of simply a transportation planning concentration with a traditional MURP in the US.

Are there any MURP degrees that you've found in the US with an aviation planning focus?