U.S. airports need nearly $100 billion for infrastructure upgrades over the next five years, according to the trade association that represents commercial airports in the United States and Canada.
“America’s airports have real and significant unmet needs that threaten their ability to serve their passengers, grow their local economies, and create good paying jobs,” ACI-NA President and CEO Kevin M. Burke said in a news release. “The longer we delay, the more America’s airports will fall behind and our infrastructure needs will become even more expensive to fix.”
The upgrades will help airports accommodate growth in passenger and cargo activity, rehabilitate existing facilities and support aircraft innovation, according to the new report titled Airport Infrastructure Needs: 2017-2021.
Infrastructure needs at large, medium, and small hub airports that enplane 99.8 percent of U.S. passenger traffic have increased nearly 42 percent in just two years, the organization said. Sixty-three percent of the increase in infrastructure needs is attributed to passenger and cargo growth, with 30 percent attributable to the need to continually maintain a good state of repair for aging airport facilities.
Last month, after meeting with representatives from the airline industry, President Trump said, “Our airports used to be the best. Now they’re at the bottom of the rung,” according to a White House transcript.