Dhaka: Airports in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East will receive a substantial investment of USD 240 billion for infrastructural development, said Airports Council International Asia-Pacific & Middle East (ACI APAC & MID) in an announcement on April 16.

Of this significant investment, USD 136 billion will be utilized to modernize and expand existing airports, aimed at increasing the capacity for handling 680 million additional passengers and 14 million tons of cargo.

The rest of the amount, USD 104 billion, will be allocated to construct new airports, which will be capable of handling around 562 million passengers and 57 million tons of cargo.

The combined additional capacity will accommodate a total of 1.24 billion passengers, more than 13 times higher than the world’s busiest international airport, Dubai International Airport's capacity, while the 71 million tons of cargo capacity equals nearly 14 times the cargo throughput of Hong Kong International Airport, the top-ranked airport for cargo in the world.

API regarded this capital expenditure as part of the region’s socio-economic development strategies to meet the growing demand for air travel and cargo capacity.