The U.S. is full of airports—more than 19,000 of them—when you include heliports, seaplane bases, and what the FAA calls “other landing facilities in the United States and its territories.”
But at the general aviation level, the total is closer to 3,300 for airports that are open to the public and part of the FAA’s National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. That’s still a big number, but it is getting smaller as airports across the country close, for reasons that range from a critical mass of noise complaints to real-estate development plans that value warehouses and shopping malls above runways and ramps.
