Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport started off 2023 and the Valley’s tourism season with more passengers than it has seen in recent years.
In January, Sky Harbor recorded a total of 3,851,648 passengers going through its terminals, which was a 28.1% increase from January 2022 and it is just slightly higher – 13,331 passengers – from January 2020, according to data released by the Phoenix Aviation Department. The 3.85 million count appears to be the most passengers ever in Sky Harbor in the month of January.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic slowed commercial airline traffic to a halt in the spring of 2020, Sky Harbor was trending for a record year. While still early, the strong showing in January could produce a record year for the airport in 2023.
Sky Harbor not only saw a major increase in passengers, but also a 13.9% increase in the total number of landings at the airport from January 2022 to January 2023.
Of the 18 airlines that operate at Sky Harbor, 86% of all passengers flew on four of them – American Airlines (Nasdaq: AAL), Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAL).
Of the four busiest airlines at Sky Harbor, all saw major increases from January 2022 to January 2023, with United and American posting more than 30% passenger increases, Delta saw 24% more passengers year-over-year and Southwest recorded 14.2% more.
Some of the carriers with smaller operations at Sky Harbor more than doubled their January passenger count from 2022 to 2023 including Air Canada (157.3%), Allegiant Air (168.9%) and WestJet (204.3%). Canadian airlines such as Air Canada and WestJet have significantly increased their routes between the Great White North and Phoenix over the past year.
While the Aviation Department has only released specific numbers from January, February appears to be headed in the right direction with the busiest day ever at Sky Harbor being recorded on Feb. 13, the day after Super Bowl LVII was played in Glendale.