in Houston, Texas

The Houston Airport System is not on the hook for debts or other liabilities that haven't already been made public regarding its work building and running airports in other countries, a top law firm hired by the city said in a report released Tuesday evening.

Bracewell & Giuliani, which was hired this summer by Mayor Bill White, said that the work of the HAS Development Corp., a nonprofit connected to the airport system for its foreign work, is making money for the city and has the potential to make millions more -- though that could be nearly a decade down the road.

The report also suggests that the city may want to remove the airport system's director from the HASDC board to prevent potential conflicts of interest. It also took issue with the nonprofit claiming in its marketing materials that it's "affiliated" with the city airport system.

The city has made $700,000 off of allowing Houston airport workers to toil on overseas projects and then being paid back at nearly twice their regular pay rate, the report said. And over all, HASDC has given the city some $45,000 in sort-of profits over the past eight years.

Meanwhile, HASDC's work in Quito, Ecuador -- where it is running an older airport while building a new one -- won't generate profits until 2017, when it could begin making $1.6 million annually for the Houston group, according to estimates reviewed by Bracewell & Giuliani. Over the 35 years of the agreement, it could eventually bring in $6 million a year, the estimates said.

At the same time, HASDC's profits on its work in Costa Rica could be much more lucrative than Quito, the report suggests.

In addition to its work on airports in the Costa Rican cities of San Jose and Liberia, the report also reveals that HASDC is involved in possible deals for three other airports there.

The Costa Rican projects collectively won't have cash value until they're sold, the report says -- don't you just love reading official documents where this is referred to as a "liquidity event"? -- and HASDC and its business partners are working to make that happen prior to 2017, the Bracewell report says.

But when it does happen, it could be worth between $50 million and $180 million for HASDC, according to some estimates that Bracewell staff reviewed. The final amount depends on how well things go in Quito, the Bracewell report says, as the financial structure of the Costa Rican deal ties the work in the two nations together.

But the report also has some suggestions for the city and for HASDC.

For one thing, the report says the city might want to think about stopping the practice of having the director of the Houston Airport System also serve as chairman of the HASDC board. That could potentially create a conflict of interest, Bracewell said.

And HASDC might want to tone down its claims in its glossy marketing materials that it's "affiliated" with the airport system, as the two entities are contractually obligated to be separate and independent. Ditto with having the HASDC Web site being a part of the Houston Airport System's own Web site.

And Bracewell also suggests the city may want to consider setting some benchmarks on the amount of time that city airport workers spend working on HASDC-related projects, so that the airport staff has a better handle on how much time is being used on foreign work and whether too much energy is being diverted to the overseas projects.

Photo of airliner soaring into the yellow sky by flickr user Kossy@FINEDAYS, used via the Creative Commons license.

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