Oct. 27—Passenger traffic at the Colorado Springs Airport remained on the upswing in September as the holiday travel season approaches.
The number of enplanements, meaning travelers boarding planes at the Colorado Springs Airport, hit 97,705 in September, up 4.6% from September 2021, with Southwest Airlines and United Airlines responsible for the bulk of the increases, according to airport data.
"I think the unmet demand is still there," said Greg Phillips, the city's aviation director. "Our August and September numbers for 2022 were above what our August and September numbers were for 2021, so we're still seeing growth."
Phillips expects the increase in traffic to continue at the airport but perhaps at a more incremental level as the initial boost in traffic due to Southwest's arrival last year is likely to plateau.
While the airport saw increases in traffic during September — especially compared with 2019 enplanements, with traffic up 30% from pre-pandemic levels — Delta, American and Frontier airlines all saw a decrease in enplanements from a year prior.
Frontier is in its final days of serving the Springs; the airline plans to stop its Colorado Springs routes Nov. 4.
"It's like losing a member of the family here," Phillips said.
But strong load factors (seats occupied on an aircraft) drove September's traffic as all five carriers averaged an 81.8% load factor for the month.
The available seats decreased from the previous year by 7.9% but were still up 27.8% compared with 2019.
The airport has seen 1,597,065 passengers travel through its corridors so far this year and "forecasts show traffic will continue to remain strong through the end of the year," according to an airport news release.
With the holiday season approaching, the airport plans to offer its annual holiday parking promotion of $4 a day for long-term parking from Nov. 21 to Nov. 27 and Dec. 21 to Jan. 2.
Amid the holiday season, Southwest Airlines will offer nonstop seasonal service to Houston, San Antonio, Texas, and San Diego for select November, December and January dates.
More changes are ahead next year: United Airlines will halt service to Los Angeles starting Jan. 3, and Delta Air Lines will start its nonstop service to Atlanta in June.
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