AUSTIN (KXAN) — Nine of the top 10 busiest months ever at Austin’s airport were in 2022.
Newly-released passenger totals from November place the month in the sixth-busiest spot. Every month from March through November now appears in the list, with July 2019 ranking as 10th-busiest of all time.
From January through November, more than 19.3 million passengers were reported, beating the previous record of 17.3 million in 2019. Passenger totals for December are yet to be reported.
This year, airport officials are projecting a total of 21 million passengers.
In November alone, 1,845,593 passengers were recorded. May 2022 remains the busiest month ever at AUS, with 2,021,747 million passengers.
November’s total is a 16% increase compared to November 2021, which saw almost 1.6 million passengers.
When looking at individual days, two in November rank among the busiest of all time.
On Nov. 18, more than 36,000 passengers boarded a flight from AUS, making it the second-busiest day ever. Nov. 13 ranks as fifth-busiest of all time.
Southwest Airlines remains the largest airline operating at AUS in terms of passenger traffic. Almost four in 10 passengers in November traveled on a Southwest flight.
American Airlines is the second largest, with almost a quarter of all passengers flying with the airline. Delta Air Lines accounted for 11.6% of passengers at AUS and United Airlines flew about 10.8% of passengers. Alaska Airlines is a distant fifth, carrying 4.5% of passengers in November.
When looking at individual airlines, all but two saw year-over-year growth in November.
British Airways saw the largest growth in passenger totals. In November 2022, the airline flew 14,843 passengers, up from 5,222 in November 2021 — a 184% increase.
Hawaiian Airlines increased its passenger totals by 68%, while Southwest and Air Canada saw growth of 31%.
Meanwhile, Frontier Airlines and JetBlue Airways saw lower passenger totals this November compared to last. Frontier carried 8,934 this year, compared to 17,327 in November 2021, a decrease of 48%. JetBlue saw a 26% decrease in passenger traffic.
Meanwhile, several airlines flew passengers in November 2022 but not in November 2021. Dutch airline KLM began its nonstop Austin-Amsterdam route on March 28, 2022.
German airline Lufthansa resumed its nonstop route to Frankfurt on April 8, after a two-year hiatus due to COVID. British airline Virgin Atlantic launched its nonstop route to London Heathrow on May 25.