Airport Construction and Investment Review 2022 Part 2 – the Americas, Middle East, and Africa

In this second and final part of an overview of airport construction activities worldwide attention turns to the Americas, the Middle East and Africa.

In North America there is a concentration of investment on major gateway airports in the US, especially in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. This is unlikely to be changed by distribution of proceeds of the Infrastructure Bill, in which the airport allocation is miserly. By comparison, there is scarcely any investment on new airports across the continent, and that has been the case now for too long.

In Latin America infrastructure capex is often determined by proliferation of the operating concession agreements that demand it, but circumstances are changing as previous deals in Brazil come under scrutiny in the light of economic downturn and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic – remaining deals in Brazil and other countries that might copy them will be affected by these disputes and infrastructure requirements.

Activity in the Middle East is focused on the airports that are bases for the ‘Big 3’ airlines, but others in the regions have ambitions not to be left behind. Africa has the capacity to surprise. There are more major projects – at least on paper – than one might expect.