Becoming a AAAE Certified Member

1. Submit your application.

We accept both online and printed applications, along with the $200 program fee. Please note that this is a registration fee for enrolling in the certificate program, not to be confused with AAAE membership dues. We will process your application as quickly as possible and send your study materials to you.

Students, in addition to the application and fee, must become Academic Graduate members (dues are $150--current academic member dues may be applied.)

2. Study.

AAAE provides all the study materials you need to successfully complete the test. A summary of these written modules is available here.

Many candidates choose to attend the SCC-AAAE Accreditation Academy's intensive review course in Dallas, TX. For further information, please contact the accreditation department at accreditation@airportnet.org.

3. Pass the written examination.

Each certification candidate must pass a 180-question multiple-choice examination. It is administered (on the Internet or in paper version) at a local airport, college, university or high school, as well as at some AAAE conferences and training sites. Unless candidates plan to take the written exam at AAAE conferences or training sites, they must ask a proctor to administer the written exam to them. To be eligible for administering the written exam, a proctor must be one of the following professionals: (1) a high shcool principal, (2) a college professor, (3) an active A.A.E. [Accredited Airport Executive], and a staff member of AAAE. Please note that a candidate in either the accreditation or the certification program is not eligible to serve as a proctor. It is the candidates' responsibility to contact an eligible proctor and ask him or her to send a letter of request on a letterhead to AAAE's accreditation department two weeks before the intended date of the exam. The signed letter should clearly identify the candidate's name, member number, date, time, and place of the written exam, and the preferred format (Internet or paper). For further detail, please contact AAAE's accreditation department at accreditation@airportnet.org.

Candidates who fail the examination may retake it after a 90-day waiting period. A $75 administrative fee will apply for each retest.

The examination is identical to that required for completion of the accreditation program. So, if a certified member later wishes to pursue full accreditation, he or she need not retake the examination.

4. Enjoy the benefits of Certified Membership.

Upon successful completion of the written exam, a candidate in the certification program becomes a Certified Member. Certified Members will have the privilege of using the C.M. designation after their names. They will also receive a special lapel pin and certificate confirming your professional status. Of course, certified members may enjoy career benefits as well. Please note that undergraduate students who are enrolled in the certification program and who have successfully completed the written exam will receive their written exam results, C.M. certificates, and lapel pins upon their graduation from a four-year college.

Return to Certification