Airports Are Rich People Things

(CC Image/Wikimedia)

President Obama says that U.S. airports need fixing, and that Republicans deserve the blame for their disrepair.

At an April 30th press conference, Obama noted that a recent survey of airport visitors ranked no American airports among the top 25 in the world. “What does that say about our long-term competitiveness and future?" Obama rhetorically asked, after accusing Congress of short-sightedness.

Obama made it clear that, in his eyes, the sad state of America’s airports is part of a broader problem with America’s infrastructure. At the press conference he mentioned airports in the same breath as roads, bridges, and early childhood education as areas in urgent need of government investment.

That U.S. road and bridge maintenance is badly underfunded is a shaky proposition. America spends as much or more than the average industrialized country on infrastructure projects, and the quality of our highways and bridges is improving along a number of different measures.

The case for a mass infrastructure upgrade to our airports is even weaker.

There's little evidence that our airports lag those of the rest of the world. The index Obama referenced was a survey of travelers administered by Skytrax, a consumer review site. It’s questionable that traveler opinion is the key metric for an airport. As far as public infrastructure is concerned, it might make more sense to judge an airport by any number of other measures: the number of flights accommodated, its cost to the city it’s located in, the number of delayed flights, etc.

And in fact, flyers don’t seem concerned by the state of upkeep at U.S. airports. Gallup polling indicates that Americans air travelers are happy with their flying experiences. Strong majorities are satisfied with airlines’ on-time performance, the price of flight tickets, the speed and reliability of airport luggage systems, and so on. Even with the intrusive post-9/11 TSA measures in place across the country, the vast majority of air passengers express satisfaction with the procedures for getting through security.

Given high consumer approval, it’s worth asking how much Congress should dedicate to boosting American airports’ presence on the Skytrax survey’s top 25. One key consideration is that, unlike bridges or tunnels, airports are used mostly by wealthy people.

Although 80 percent of Americans have flown at some point in their lives, regular or even semi-regular air travel is restricted to a fairly small group. According to 2009 data from the Bureau of Transportation, slightly less than 40 percent of the population flies each year. Only about a third has a passport. Just 30 percent of Americans fly in a given month.

Of those flying in a given year, a majority take just one or two trips, according to Gallup data. Only 25 percent of survey respondents took three or more trips in the past 12 months:

Non-rich Americans are unlikely to pass through an airport even when they’re going a long distance. According to the 2001 National Household Travel Survey (the most recent available), the vast majority of long-distance trips in the U.S. are made by car. And those with household incomes of less than $50,000 make less than 4 percent of long-distance trips by plane:

In other words, there is a very small subgroup of Americans who travel frequently by plane -- according to researchers at the University of North Carolina, 14.7 million Americans fly nine or more times per year, roughly 5 percent of the population. But about 75 percent of Americans take either one or two flights a year, or none at all.

The vast majority of Americans are about as likely to make a trip to the zoo as they are to pass through an airport.

So why do other countries spend so much more on ostentatious airports with luxurious amenities? As the director of a trade group for airports told Politifact, in many countries “the national governments see their airports as key assets for their economic vitality and strive to make the visitors’ journey through the airport as smooth as possible.” America doesn't have the same need to impress visitors.

America’s airports are working fine -- for the relatively small slice of elite Americans they serve on a regular basis.