The Airports Council International (ACI) North America (NA) estimates in an infrastructure report that US gateways need investment of just shy of $100 billion to cope with the growth in cargo volumes and passengers.

ACI-NA estimates in its Airport Infrastructure Needs: 2017-2021 report that US airports have a collective funding need of $99.9 billion over the next five years, or nearly $20 billion per year, to begin these projects.

This figure is a 32 per cent increase in airport infrastructure needs since the last ACI-NA estimate which was released in 2015.

ACI-NA says 63 per cent of the increase in infrastructure needs is attributed to passenger and cargo growth, with 30 per cent attributable to the need to continually maintain a good state of repair for ageing airport facilities.

The report also says as the demand for passenger and cargo services continues to grow, so will the corresponding increase in airport infrastructure development and maintenance costs.

Terminal projects represent 54.1 per cent of overall airport infrastructure needs. Landside projects represent 24.7 per cent of total needs and airside projects represent 21.1 per cent of total needs.

“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,” says ACI-NA president and chief executive officer, Kevin M. Burke.

“The longer we delay, the more America’s airports will fall behind and our infrastructure needs will become even more expensive to fix.”