Aviation infrastructure received a grade of D+ on the 2025 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card. This is classified as “Poor” on the ASCE’s grading scale and classifies the infrastructure as “At Risk.”
As the second-lowest grade of all transit categories evaluated, this grade showcases the need for immediate action and drastic improvements in the aviation sector, according to the ASCE.
Aviation was one of eight categories explored during a webinar hosted by the ASCE on March 24, 2025. The effort evaluated 18 areas of infrastructure using eight key criteria: capacity, condition, funding, future need, operation & maintenance, public safety, resilience and innovation. It considered data from the past four years.
Experts from the ASCE identified key challenges in current aviation infrastructure as well as solutions that industry and government leaders can use to mitigate the issues.
Holistic View of Airports and Aviation Infrastructure
“Airport infrastructure extends well beyond runways and terminals and includes everything from control towers to rescue services, passenger terminals and more," said Darren Olson, chair of the Committee on America's Infrastructure, highlighting the importance of viewing aviation infrastructure in a holistic way that includes both the air side and non-air side of the industry.
When thinking about where to apply advanced solutions, experts from the ASCE emphasized the critical need for considering every step of travel. For example, traveling to and from the airport is a common challenge that improvements in infrastructure can mitigate, ensuring all travelers make it to their destinations safely and conveniently.
The ASCE stated its belief that improvements in airside operations, interior navigation of airports, and functionality of systems can be more accessible when viewing airport infrastructure holistically. Concrete plans for improvement include encouraging and requiring formal maintenance plans and asset lifecycle management plans to ensure equipment and facilities remain up to modern codes and regulations.
Growing Airport Traffic Demand
According to Olson, “Air passenger traffic forecasted to grow 58% by 2040 to 1.28 billion annual passengers.”
Olson showcased how passenger demand put a continuous strain on aviation infrastructure, especially in airports that saw increases in traffic without proportional upgrades to facilities or equipment.
With the need for modernization and increased capacity in airports and surrounding infrastructure, the ASCE highlighted the need for more resources.
Experts also stressed how gaps in funding have exacerbated delays in progress, which could cause the challenges to compound. The ASCE discussed how airports must keep up a “state of good repair,” which means maintaining and modernizing their legacy assets while also adding new capacity to accommodate growth in traffic. They explained that without adequate funding, legacy assets have the potential to experience significant wear, while airports that are unable to allocate funds to key modernizations could fall behind.
Persisting Workforce Challenges
When discussing specific examples from the aviation infrastructure that call for upgrades, former ASCE President Kristina Swallow said, “It’s both the specific infrastructure as well as the workforce.”
She identified the need for modernization and improvement in the aviation workforce, highlighting operational resiliency. Swallow noted that this refers to an organization, department or facility’s ability to remain operational in the face of unforeseen circumstances, whether they be extreme weather events or in-air collisions.
The primary solution offered by the ASCE in regard to aviation workforce challenges was the training and support of staff like air traffic controllers and critical airport maintenance and operations personnel.
Solutions for Aviation
The ASCE provided a number of proposed solutions that could address the challenges currently present in aviation infrastructure.
For example, Swallow explained that continued flexibility in grants from the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) could help ensure that airports and industry leaders have the resources they need to make necessary upgrades and repairs. Similarly, emphasis was placed on securing sufficient, flexible funding to ensure long-term investments in the infrastructure.
Removing the federally imposed cap on passenger facility charges is another solution the ASCE recommended, both in this announcement and on previous Infrastructure Report Cards.
Darren Olson also highlighted the importance of secure, long-term investments as a solution not just for aviation, but for all areas of U.S. infrastructure. He said, “The report card projects an investment gap of $3.7 trillion between 2024 and 2023, up from the $2.59 trillion gap identified in the 2021 report card.”
Overarching Solutions for American Infrastructure
The ASCE also provided three overarching solutions that could benefit infrastructure across the country, which aligned with their proposed improvements for aviation infrastructure.
The first of these was sustaining investment, which the ASCE noted could help all areas of U.S. infrastructure by closing funding gaps that affected almost every area of operation. By securing consistent, wise allocations that prioritize resiliency, the ASCE stated their belief that the national infrastructure grade has the potential to rise over the next four years.
“Funding laws, like IIJA, have proven to be major achievements to jumpstart our ability to help close these investment gaps and revitalize America’s infrastructure,” shared Darren Olson.
He continued, “But more must be done. Failing to close the infrastructure investment gap brings serious economic consequences. Each American household currently loses $2,700 per year due to poor infrastructure. If we continue our current federal investment levels, we can reduce that number to close to $2,000 per year, saving American households $700 per year.”
The second solution to improving the overall American infrastructure that the ASCE proposed was prioritizing resiliency. With the unprecedented frequency of disasters throughout recent years, ASCE experts explained the necessity of ensuring that each aspect of infrastructure is funded and developed to continue operations, even in disastrous conditions.
Olson explained, “In 2024, a total of 27 extreme weather events caused 568 deaths and over $182 billion in damages. Including destruction of critical infrastructure. More must be done to integrate resilience that protects against the impacts of extreme weather events.”
Finally, Olson discussed the importance of forward-thinking policies and innovations for infrastructure improvements. He noted that this would require both public and private sectors to develop advanced solutions and for all levels of government to cooperate with the private sector to successfully integrate and improve the nation’s infrastructure as a whole.
