diff --git a/python_apps/airtime_analyzer/airtime_analyzer/config_file.py b/python_apps/airtime_analyzer/airtime_analyzer/config_file.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7bd5a0b59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python_apps/airtime_analyzer/airtime_analyzer/config_file.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import ConfigParser
+
+def read_config_file(config_path):
+    """Parse the application's config file located at config_path."""
+    config = ConfigParser.SafeConfigParser()
+    try:
+        config.readfp(open(config_path))
+    except IOError as e:
+        print "Failed to open config file at " + config_path + ": " + e.strerror
+        exit(-1)
+    except Exception as e:
+        print e.strerror
+        exit(-1)
+
+    return config
\ No newline at end of file