<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Security requirements as mandated by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act represent significant capital improvement projects that will cost billions in the near term and must be completed by quickly approaching deadlines. Spillover costs from this mandate could force U.S. airports, and potentially U.S. airlines at their pre-Sept. 11 spending levels, to collectively redirect billions of resources from securing their core business, creating a potential funding gap for investment in revenue-producing assets, according to a new research report from Fitch Ratings.</font>