The demand for air travel is on the rise: The past decade has seen exponential growth, with annual worldwide passenger numbers rising by 80 percent. This demand has resulted in a shift to the way investors view airports as an infrastructure asset class. Infrastructure investors are attracted to the rising cash flows, resilience to the economic cycle and potential gains at disposal, characteristics that are found in airports across the world. In spite of that, investors should take note of the differences in performance and cash flow resilience between the global hubs and regional airports.

World air passenger traffic has grown by 5 percent per year on average during the past 30 years, despite macroeconomic volatility, commodity shocks, wars and terror events. Going forward, the secular trends of demographics, shifting consumer preferences and global disposable income growth are likely to continue propelling air passenger volumes.

Liberalization of global aviation marke