Sky Harbor starts 2024 off strong; airline announces new Phoenix route
Following a record-setting year, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport continued that momentum and started off 2024 with more passengers traveling through its gates than any January before.
In January, Sky Harbor recorded 3,939,032 total passengers going through its terminals, a 2.2% increase from January 2023, the previous record, according to data released Feb. 29 by the Phoenix Aviation Department.
Phoenix Sky Harbor, the region’s primary airport, surpassed 2019’s total passenger count in 2023, a sign that the aviation industry, at least in Phoenix, has recovered from the slump caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sky Harbor not only saw an increase in passengers, but also a 2.9% increase in the total number of landings at the airport from January 2023 to January 2024.
While there were more flights coming into the airport, not every major airline saw increases. While the two largest carriers operating at Sky Harbor – American Airlines (Nasdaq: AAL), Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) – saw total passenger count increase in January when compared to the same month a year ago, 4.6% and 3.9% respectively, Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), the third largest carrier at Sky Harbor, reported a 2.4% decrease in monthly passengers.
Frontier adds new Phoenix flight
The next two largest commercial airline operations at Sky Harbor, United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAL) and Frontier Airlines (Nasdaq: ULCC), both reported gains from January 2023 to January 2024 – 3.8% for United and 0.6% for Frontier.
Frontier has been one of the fastest growing airlines at Sky Harbor over the past few years, going from 872,890 total passengers in 2019 to 3,678,665 in 2023 – a 321% increase.
Not only has the airline added a crew base at Sky Harbor, but it continues to add new routes. This week, Frontier announced 17 new routes it would start flying including one new one between Phoenix and Missoula, Montana.
“We are excited to yet again expand our route map with a focus on underserved and overpriced markets as we head into spring,” Josh Flyr, Frontier’s vice president of network and operations design, said in a statement. “Increasing the number of cities with an ultra-low fare option helps ensure even more consumers can take to the skies this year to visit friends and family or experience a new destination on their travel wish list.”
Starting May 2, Frontier will start flying to Missoula from Phoenix two times a week.