US airports under serious renovations
June 19, 2012, 04:01 pm
United States airports have been long putting off renovations due to struggling profits and slower passenger traffic, but the time has finally come. A recent report by Skytrax, a British consulting firm, showed that six out of 10 of the year’s best airports are in Asia, three are in Europe and one is in Canada, none were in the United States.
Airports in the United States typically have to fund financial investments with money from airline fees, passenger charges and the sale of bonds tied to passenger traffic. Renovations have begun throughout United States airports and will represent the largest public work projects in the country.
Besides lagging behind the rest of the world and not appearing on the Skytrax top 10 list, new investments in airport renovations have been in response to the need to house bigger planes and increase the number of foreign carriers flying into the United States.
“Clearly, investment in aviation facilities has lagged the demand, but you could probably make the same case for most of our other infrastructure as well,” said Jerry Orr, the chief executive of Charlotte Douglas International Airport, which is currently undergoing $1 billion in renovations. “But airports are businesses, and airports need the services that airlines provide.”
A recent announcement by Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the nation’s largest airport as far as passenger traffic, is undergoing a $1.4 billion to complete a terminal for international passengers. The project includes a 1.2-million-square-foot concourse, 12 boarding gates, more than 3,500 parking spots and a new highway entrance to the airport.
Another project under way is the new 1.9-million-square-foot Terminal 3 at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, set to cost $2.4 billion. The terminal will have 14 gates, will feature Wi-Fi throughout, and includes seven new restaurants and retail outlets, a new duty-free shop and express spa.
Los Angeles International Airport is in the midst of a $4.1 billion expansion that started three years ago; the project is currently in a $1.5 billion phase to complete a new international terminal, the city’s largest public works project ever.
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