Airports are struggling to keep up with record-setting increases in air traffic, with new projects at major hubs aiming to bring outdated infrastructure up to speed.
The number of people getting on flights increased from 689 million in 2008 to 880 million in 2018, a 27% jump. The U.S. has not constructed a new major airport since 1995. A lot has changed since 1995, including increased and enhanced screening and the creation of the Transportation Security Administration.
Those changes, coupled with relatively few infrastructure improvements and build-outs of existing airports, have created diminishing returns on air traffic control and management at major transportation hubs.
A study by Airports Council International found that in order to keep up with record traffic, America’s airports will need more than $128 billion in infrastructure upgrades by 2023, with 56% of those upgrades needed inside the terminals.
Major airports in the U.S. are taking on more of the brunt of the traffic, Joseph Kane, an associate fellow with the Brookings Institution, told the Washington Examiner. That wear and tear is leading to the broad swath of current and upcoming improvements.
“Airports represent key economic conduits for the country, but a variety of market forces, funding needs, and policy shortfalls have led to challenges upgrading our infrastructure,” Kane said. “As the U.S. passenger aviation industry has consolidated, more traffic has concentrated in major metropolitan markets, resulting in greater demands on existing, aging facilities.”
Some of the largest airports across the country are in store for major overhauls in the next few years, including:
· Los Angeles International, scheduled for the costliest upgrade with more than $13 billion in improvements planned by 2023
· New York LaGuardia, with an $8 billion rebuild slated to be done in 2022
· Dallas Fort Worth, which added 14 new gates just this year
· Salt Lake City, set for $3.6 billion in renovations by 2023
· Chicago O’Hare, which just broke ground on an $8.7 billion expansion
· Orlando International, which has a $2.8 billion project to add gates that is planned to be completed in 2021
Airports in Denver, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City, Missouri, are also upgrading.
Kane noted that despite the huge upgrades, there remain inherent issues with the way air infrastructure improvements are funded in the U.S.
The passenger facility charge, a user fee upon which airports depend to fund capital investments, is crucial to infrastructure. Its cap has not been adjusted in more than two decades. If the cap were to be raised, airports would have more flexibility to adapt and improve facilities in light of increasing air travel.
“Ongoing questions over major funding programs at the federal level can make it hard to target investments, while there can be limitations on bottom-up financing and user fees, including passenger facility charges that support capacity-enhancing projects,” Kane said.
Annie Russo, senior vice president of government and political affairs with Airports Council International, told the Washington Examiner that inaction from Congress on the matter has caused issues with airport infrastructure.
“One of the biggest reasons many American airports don’t measure up with those in other countries is that Congress has not adjusted the main funding mechanism for airport infrastructure in almost 20 years,” Russo said. “That inaction is making it increasingly difficult for airports to invest in themselves, but Congress can fix this shortfall without a dime in taxpayer spending by simply adjusting that mechanism for inflation.”
