North American air passenger traffic is projected to increase to 9.8 billion passengers in 2025 from 9.4 billion passengers in 2024. This commentary expands further on the North American airports sector outlook.

Key Highlights
— North American air passenger traffic to be flat in 2025.
— Air travel remains resilient amid the backdrop of economic and geopolitical uncertainties.
— We believe North American airports will continue to rely heavily on debt to fund maintenance and necessary growth-related capital projects.
— As a result, we expect the metrics of the airports to deteriorate until the anticipated passenger growth and associated revenues materialize in the future.

“On the backdrop of moderate economic growth in North America in 2026, our outlook for the airport sector in the region is neutral,” says Valiant Ip, Vice President of Asset Finance at Morningstar DBRS. “Despite a projected erosion of the credit metrics to support large-scale capital projects, we believe the future demand fundamentals remain supportive in the sector.”