, Columnist
Submerged Risks Haunt Low-Level Airports
Rising sea levels are a threat to a highly rated asset class.
A flooded Kansai International Airport this week after Typhoon Jebi hit.
Photographer: The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images
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The sight of a flooded Kansai International Airport and 3,000 stranded people after Typhoon Jebi slammed into southern Japan this week should be a warning to the world’s infrastructure investors.
Airports have been a highly rated asset class over the past decade. The combined market capitalization of the companies that run the terminals in Paris, Shanghai, Sydney, Frankfurt, Copenhagen and Thailand has almost quadrupled in the past 10 years, and is up by about two-thirds since the end of 2016.