Airports around the world will probably have to rely heavily on debt financing to pay for their expansion, refurbishment and maintenance programmes in the coming years, Canada-based global credit ratings agency Morningstar DBRS points out. Airports will have to undertake such programmes because air passenger travel has not only recovered strongly from the Covid-19 pandemic, but is continuing to grow strongly. The ratings agency cited global airports representative body, Airports Council International (ACI), which has forecast that the number of air passengers this year will exceed 10-billion, which would be an increase of 6% over last year (and a 16% increase over 2019) and would be a new record. The previous record was likely set last year, as ACI expected total air passengers for 2024 to number 9.5-billion.