Airport Market Is Still Soft, But Officials See Bright Spots
With airline traffic still below 2001 levels and most major U.S. carriers drenched in red ink, the airport construction market remains much softer than it was a year ago. In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and economic slowdown, many airports pared construction plans. That lists most recent addition is Washington Dulles International in northern Virginia.
On April 17, the local airport authority finance committee voted to defer $1.5 billion of the $4.1-billion Dulles capital plan. That was only three weeks after the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners on March 26 trimmed the Miami International Airports phase one capital program to $4.8 billion, postponing $600 million that was in a plan approved earlier. Weak passenger volume is a big factor. In March, the Federal Aviation Administration forecast that volume will decline 12% in fiscal 2002, to 600.3 million enplanements, but rise 14% in 2003.