Air travel showed a downturn in February, declining 5% compared to February 2024 with about 4.3 million passengers moving through the two airports. Hobby Airport showed the most significant loss, decreasing 11.4% year over year to approximately 932,000 passengers. Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) saw approximately 3.34 million passengers, a 3% decline.

Year to date, approximately 8.9 million passengers have moved through the airport system, down a negligible 0.2%, Though IAH is showing modest gains over last year, increasing 0.6%, for about 7 million passengers, Hobby has taken a hit losing 11.4% over 2024 with approximately 1.87 million passengers.

Air Traffic – In the Numbers

Domestic travel in February declined 5%, showing just over 3.4 million passengers. Hobby saw about 867,000 domestic passengers, down 11.1%, while Bush Intercontinental lost 2.7% YOY accommodating approximately 2.5 million passengers. For domestic flights, United Airlines gained market share compared to January 2025, making up 58% of all domestic flights through the Houston Airport System compared to 55% in January. The total volume of passengers who flew United, however, dipped 2% YOY. Southwest Airlines has seen one of the larger declines in domestic traffic, losing 17.9% of passengers compared to the same time last year.

International travel is showing similar declines, losing 5.1% of passengers in February compared with a year earlier. Similar to the total passenger and domestic data, Hobby is seeing a larger percentage decline in international traffic, losing 15.7% while IAH saw a decrease of 4.2%. Mexico, Houston’s largest international travel market, brought approximately 331,000 passengers in February. This is a decline month over month, as January showed about 404,000 passengers.

See full stats here.

Written by Megan Henson