Navigating Complexity

As the 2026 World Cup draws near and global air travel rebounds, America’s airports face immense pressure to modernize. This typically involves updated airport master planning to accommodate new routes, enhance the traveler experience, and meet growing passenger demand. While the idea of building a new airport may sound appealing, most major U.S. cities already have established airports with limited space for expansion. As a result, many of these upgrades are happening under less-than-ideal conditions: aging facilities, limited documentation, stakeholder complexity, and active passenger operations. For airport owners and planners, navigating this landscape requires more than technical ability—it demands adaptability, institutional insight, and strategic focus.

Amid these challenges, structural engineers have emerged as indispensable collaborators. Their role extends far beyond the design of columns and beams. They are orchestrators of phasing plans, interpreters of decades-old documentation (if such documents even exist), and trusted voices in high-stakes, multi-agency coordination. These experts help convert logistical mazes into functioning, traveler-friendly, future-ready terminals through creative problem-solving and a deep understanding of aviation-specific demands. Their solutions have to meet goals while remaining flexible and adaptable to maintain the functionality of the city and the airport during construction.

Accelerating Schedules Amid External Pressures

Today’s airport leaders are racing against more than internal delays—they’re up against economic pressures, tariffs on materials, evolving building codes, and marquee events like the 2026 World Cup. Every project milestone is a countdown. Engineers can alleviate these pressures through nimble design thinking. They may recommend alternative materials based on availability, suggest simplified foundation solutions when encountering conflicts (e.g., with duct banks or existing infrastructure), and shift strategies midstream as needed. An approach that proved effective on one airport project involved designing eight unique pile caps to work around site constraints. Though unconventional, these customized solutions ensured the project could move forward without sacrificing function.

Juggling Stakeholder Dynamics

Every airport project must align the interests of numerous players: airport boards, TSA, FAA, airlines, police, baggage handling companies, and local authorities, among many others. Each stakeholder brings with them a unique list of requirements and priorities. It often then falls to the structural engineer to serve as translator and conciliator—ensuring that all sides understand the implications of design choices in service to the project’s goals and objectives.

Engineers are in a unique position to align the responsibilities of designers and contractors, and to arrive at solutions that will best achieve the owner’s goals. Once construction commences, the ability to rapidly interpret changing conditions and flag potential conflicts will allow owners to make more informed choices and avoid costly late-stage changes. Despite all the challenges, structural engineers can bring clarity and momentum to complex projects through proactive planning and real-time field expertise.

Working in Active Environments

Working within an active, high-traffic environment is one of the most challenging aspects of any airport project. Many structural upgrades occur mere feet away from travelers as they hurry through terminals. To avoid disruption and to maintain safety and security, construction must be carefully phased and coordinated

To address these issues, airports such as Dallas Fort Worth International (DFW) are employing modular construction solutions. Off-site fabrication of steel and concrete elements with MEP components minimizes on-site activity and accelerates project timelines. Where modular construction is not an option, structural engineers can employ other strategic solutions—such as choosing cast-in-place concrete over steel for concourse levels due to shorter lead times—that will support schedules and minimize disruptions to operations.

Rethinking Project Delivery

Many airport authorities today default to traditional design-bid-build models to execute their infrastructure projects. It is the responsibility of the engineer to educate owners on alternative project delivery methods and the benefits and efficiencies they can bring to a project. Design-build, for example, leverages the contractor’s expertise during the design process, allowing the team to test ideas against field conditions, efficiently select materials, and reduce risk by fostering collaboration. Owners rely on their engineering consultant to bring them forward-thinking and technically sound solutions. Presenting them with the optimal project delivery method, to ideally save both time and money, is a great way to live up to that responsibility.

The structural engineer’s ability to deliver efficient, elegant, and site-responsive solutions that serve current needs is largely appreciated in the industry. What is often overlooked, however, is their ability to help optimize the execution of the overall project. Structural engineers can provide solutions tailored to each site’s unique challenges, from helping teams navigate tight construction sequences to proposing foundation workarounds when utilities create conflicts. In an era of rapid change and growing expectations, structural engineers can also play a pivotal role in helping to deliver a project that is flexible, adaptable, and will serve the owner’s needs well into the future.

Navigating Gaps in Documentation

Many U.S. terminals were built decades ago and often the original plans and documents were not well maintained. This leaves design teams to make structural assumptions based on partial drawings, site photos, and their own experience. In one such case, engineers had to evaluate the mezzanine floor framing at a terminal with limited existing documents. They were able to reverse-engineer the design based on known uses and visual assessments. After partial demolition confirmed their assumptions, design and construction work was allowed to safely continue. In other cases where no other options exist, engineers must rely on load testing as a last resort. This blend of forensic architecture and intuitive problem-solving underscores the importance of having seasoned professionals who understand how legacy systems were likely constructed and used over time. This type of instinctual clarity is especially critical when demolition is involved and safety and precision are paramount.

Managing Demolition and Temporary Support

Renovation almost always means some degree of demolition. In structural terms, a partial demo is particularly tricky as it often requires engineers to determine precisely what can stay, what must go, and how remaining elements will be supported during construction. At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, stakeholders partnered closely with shoring contractors to model and stage demolition work near Terminal B. Their tasks included clarifying load paths, advising on structural integrity during staged demos, and helping interpret drawings and field conditions so nothing was overlooked. This real-time assessment becomes even more important with older structures where documentation is incomplete or outdated. Even with thorough planning, airport projects are constantly racing against the clock. On airport projects challenged by tight schedules, the ability to safely and efficiently phase demolitions is critical to minimizing delays and disruptions.

Maintaining safe circulation in an active construction zone is even more challenging when unexpected difficulties arise. A seemingly minor crack at one airport revealed damage to critical load-bearing elements, requiring on-the-fly demolition, shoring, and a careful construction sequence—all without halting traveler movement. A structural engineer is uniquely qualified to identify such issues early in the planning process and repairs can be incorporated into overall phasing plans from the start. This is especially true at older facilities where there is little or no structural documentation, making the engineer’s site evaluation even more critical.

Lessons from the Field: Flexibility, Proactivity, Customization

Airport renovations are rarely straightforward. Conditions change, documents go missing, stakeholders come and go, and site logistics constantly evolve. Engineers who thrive in this environment do so by embracing three core strategies:

Proactivity: Anticipating problems and identifying workarounds—sometimes before other stakeholders fully understand them—keeps projects moving forward. This includes being able to accommodate last-minute owner changes without overdesigning the solution.

Designing for the unknown: Structural systems must allow for future change. Buildings need to be flexible, whether it’s the need for added floors, new gates, security upgrades, or responding to unforeseen public health events. Smart engineering includes reserving space for columns or avoiding post-tensioned steel where future adaptability is needed.

Field expertise: When drawings fall short, boots-on-the-ground decision-making becomes invaluable. On-site engineers must read the field like a living document—spotting issues, offering alternatives, and adjusting plans in real-time.

Still, the success of these adaptive strategies depends heavily on having the right team, and the right project delivery model.

Final Boarding Call

The quiet work of structural engineers underpins every successful airport expansion in the United States today. Their ability to adapt designs, anticipate issues, collaborate across disciplines, and operate under pressure makes them indispensable partners. As airports gear up for significant events and long-term evolution, success will hinge not just on impressive terminals or advanced technology—but on the reliability, creativity, and strategic thinking of engineering teams who understand that the best solution is the one that works in real time, for real people, in the real world.