Typically, it requires more than five years to complete these eight steps for a simple general aviation airport. More complex airport configurations or environmentally sensitive sites require more time for development.

Building a major international airport is one of the most complex infrastructure projects on earth and typically takes 8 to 15 years from initial planning to completion. The actual physical construction usually takes about 5 to 8 years, but the years leading up to it are filled with environmental impact studies, land acquisition, and complex political negotiations. For example, a single runway can take 2 years to build due to the massive amount of specialized, high-density concrete required. Modern airports also involve intricate underground systems for baggage handling, fueling, and utilities that must be perfectly integrated before the terminal buildings even begin to rise. Smaller regional airports or single-terminal expansions can be completed faster, often in 3 to 5 years, but the regulatory hurdles for international hubs ensure that the timeline is almost always measured in decades rather than months.