Air travel through Houston Airports is down marginally, or essentially flat compared with last September, bringing in 4.8 million passengers. Domestic travel specifically is flat year over year, while international travel dipped just 2% to just under 1 million passengers.

Year to date through September, air travel is down 1.6% compared to the same time last year, welcoming approximately 46.3 million travelers. While domestic travel has dropped about 2.4% to 36.2 million passengers, international travel for the nine-month period has grown 1.5%, with about 10 million passengers coming through HAS.

Air Traffic – In the Numbers

September showed domestic travel flat compared with last year, bringing in approximately 3.8 million passengers. Bush Intercontinental Airport welcomed about 2.8 million passengers, down almost 2% YOY, while Hobby Airport showed a 4-point lift in traffic, bringing in over 1 million passengers. Budget airlines continue to see significant drops, with Spirit Airlines losing about 100,000 passengers over last September, or about 35%. In contrast, both United Airlines and Southwest Airlines showed strong growth, with United gaining about 2.4% over last year, moving 2.2 million passengers and Southwest Airlines gaining about 5% over last year, welcoming almost 1 million passengers.

On the international side, traffic decreased by about 2% to almost 1 million for the month. Southwest Airlines showed a 12% decline in international passengers in September, while United Airlines dipped about 2% YOY. VivaAerobús also showed declines, dropping 11%. In contrast, Air Canada showed an almost 4% gain, bringing in just over 24,000 passengers.

See full stats here.

 Written by Megan Henson