Hit with plunging revenue and increased security costs, the nation's largest airports are rethinking their master plans, trading dreams of expansion for the realities of new security requirements.

Airports in Los Angeles, Boston and Phoenix have put off major projects. Other airports have delayed or canceled work already started on runways and terminals. Smaller facilities have canceled modest face-lifts, fearful that they may lose their carriers as airlines cut back on service.

All told, airports have canceled or delayed an estimated $16 billion in hundreds of capital projects, according to a soon-to-be released survey by Airports Council International-North America, a Washington, D.C., trade group that represents 450 airports in North America.

According to the survey, 88% of capital projects have been delayed for an unspecified period of time. An additional 6% have been delayed for a year or more. "You're seeing a lot of jobs and a lot of stimulus being removed from the national economy," says Stephen Van Beek, a senior vice president with the group.

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