North American airports need around $128 billion to upgrade their facilities to support the continuous growth in passenger and cargo traffic.

Airports Council International-North America President and CEO Kevin M. Burke said in 2018 was a "record-breaking year" for air travel and shipping as passenger traffic and cargo volume grew more than 5% citing data gathered from 254 North American airports.

“Airports across North America continue to experience record-setting growth, further demonstrating the dire need for airport infrastructure improvements,” Burke said, noting how currently, airports are "being forced to do more with less" as primary infrastructure funding mechanism has not been updated in nearly two decades.

“Over the next few years, American airports face over $128 billion in critical infrastructure needs. This reflects a more than 28% increase since 2017 and an 80% increase since 2013,” he added.

The 2018 North American Airport Traffic Summary found that:

• North American airports experienced a 6.4% increase in international passenger traffic and a 4.8% increase in domestic passenger traffic;
• Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport remained as the world's busiest airport with more than 107 million passengers;
• Toronto Pearson International Airport is Canada’s most traveled airport with 49.5 million passengers, recording an increase of 5% from 2017;
• Memphis International Airport continues to be the busiest cargo airport in North America, handling nearly 4.5 million metric tons.
• Globally, one out of every three aircraft took off or landed at a North America airport in 2018.
• More than five times the combined US and Canadian population arrived at or departed from North American airports in 2018.

“We continue to urge lawmakers to provide airports with the tools necessary to make local infrastructure investment decisions, which will allow us to better serve passengers and strengthen local communities," Burke said.