Passenger traffic at Houston’s airports rose 5.6% in October compared to October 2022, and is up over 9% from September 2023.
The details: More than 5.2 million passengers moved through the Houston airport system in October 2023. Nearly 4 million of these passengers moved through George Bush Intercontinental Airport – representing a 6% increase year over year – with the remaining 1.2 million moving through Hobby Airport, an approximate 4% increase from the previous year. Year to date, Houston continues to see a positive trend in passenger traffic, with a year over year increase of 12%.
Bush airport saw an over 18% increase in international passengers, while domestic travel experienced an increase of almost 3%. Hobby Airport saw gains compared to last October, with a 4.5% increase in domestic travel and only a slight decrease in international travel by 2%.
Who is coming to Houston? Overall, domestic travel makes up the largest percentage of passengers through Houston airports, representing approximately 81% of all traffic through Bush and Hobby Airport. Much like September 2023 data, United Airlines passengers represent the largest percentage coming through Houston airports in October, making up approximately 55% of all passenger traffic – this trend has proved consistent throughout 2023, and it’s safe to assume similar ratios through the remainder of the year. Southwest Airlines handled approximately 25% of passengers, with other airlines combined making up the remainder.
Though international traffic represents only about 19% of total passenger traffic in October, there are some significant year over year increases on that front. Most notably, for the first ten months of the year, passengers flying EVA Airline and Air New Zealand have increased 615% and 424% respectively compared to the same time period in 2022. Behind these carriers, there is a 99% year over year increase from Air Canada travelers and an 87% increase from British Airway passengers.
See full stats here.