US airports will lose at least US$17 billion between April 2021 and March 2022 because of the prolonged decline in commercial aviation traffic resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the financial projections released by the Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA), the trade association representing commercial service airports in the United States and Canada.

It said the losses are in addition to the US$23 billion US airports are expected to lose between March 2020 and March 2021.

“The ongoing global pandemic continues to severely impact the finances of US airports,” said ACI-NA President and CEO Kevin M. Burke. “After a very difficult 2020, our airports still face significant revenue losses for the foreseeable future due to the steep, prolonged downturn in passenger traffic.”

Passenger traffic at US commercial airports remains well below levels forecasted before the global pandemic, the organization said, noting that these low volumes are “expected to continue” until there is widespread distribution of vaccines for COVID-19.

In 2020, passenger traffic was down approximately 65% from pre-pandemic projections. It said current estimates predict passenger traffic in 2021 will be roughly 40% lower than pre-pandemic projections.