More than 1.2 million people traveled through Huntsville International Airport in 2022, an increase of almost 28% over the previous year.
It was also the airport’s second busiest year since 2011, signaling things were getting back to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic. Only 2019 was a busier year in that time, with a record 1.4 million passengers traveling through the airport before the pandemic hit.
“The number one thing for me would be the relaxation of the Covid restrictions,” Huntsville International Airport CEO Butch Roberts said. “We had a lot of pent-up people who wanted to travel. We had a lot of people doing business and leisure at the same time.”
Leisure travel in particular helped boost the airport’s numbers, Roberts said. Before the pandemic, roughly 70% of passengers at the airport were business travelers because of government work with NASA and Redstone Arsenal’s presence here.
“We’ve been doing surveys, right now we’re running about 50-50, with leisure picking up, which is a good thing,” Roberts said.
He said business travel has not yet returned to the numbers the airport saw before the pandemic.
“There’s still people not traveling with government work,” Roberts said.
Roberts also believes the area’s population growth also has been a factor. He believes numbers will continue to grow with the FBI increasing its presence at the arsenal.
He said the airport has also increased the number of seats available.
“We had a little more supply,” Roberts said.
The busiest month during the year was May, when nearly 115,000 people traveled through the airport. The airport had more than 111,000 passengers in October and almost 109,000 passengers in June.
Roberts believes 2023′s numbers have the potential to approach 2019′s record numbers. It’s a belief bolstered by the fact that January’s travel increased by 35% over January 2022.
“Before Covid, we were growing every month,” he said. “Obviously, there’s more people here than there was before. And more business here, so there’s no reason we shouldn’t very quickly get back to where we were.”
Another factor that could play a role in increasing the numbers, Roberts said, is American Airlines is upgrading its equipmentm “which is big in our community.”
“Some of these smaller planes don’t have first class,” he said. “If you add that, some people may fly out of here instead of going to Nashville, and just having direct flights”
American Airlines is the airport’s largest carrier.
Impact of air fares
A hurdle to an increase in passengers has been the cost of air fares at the airport. NetCredit, a financial services company, conducted an analysis of what Americans were paying for airline tickets last year. It rated Huntsville International as the nation’s most expensive airport, with passengers paying an average of $456.17 per flight.
But Roberts believes the presence of low-cost carrier Breeze Airways can change that perception. The air carrier offers direct flights to Las Vegas and Tampa, and is adding flights to Orlando and Charleston, South Carolina, in March.
The airline is currently offering a one-way fare to Las Vegas for $79.
Roberts and recently retired airport CEO Rick Tucker attributed high fares at the airport to the large number of business travelers the airport has. Traditionally, the number of business travelers versus leisure travelers is the opposite of what it is nationally, with leisure travelers making up 70% of the passengers elsewhere.
Tickets booked at the last minute for business travel tend to be higher than tickets booked weeks in advance for leisure travel, they said.
Roberts also said economic issues such as inflation and the cost of fuel also affect the cost of fares.
“But that’s not just Huntsville,” he said.
Roberts said a pilot shortage is also having an impact.
Adding flights
Roberts said American Airlines is adding flights to Miami.
“It will be the third year they brought that back,” he said.
He also said there’s a possibility Breeze Airways may add flights in addition to Orlando and Charleston.
“Breeze, their whole goal is to grow the market here,” Roberts said. “They’ve got the ability to go further out to the West Coast. If we support these others, they will keep adding until they find the sweet spot.”
Roberts said the low-cost carrier is doing really well.
“They are growing every month,” he said. “They had 2,700 passengers last month.”
Roberts said travel numbers are solid for both Las Vegas and Tampa. And based on Tampa’s numbers, he expects Breeze to have success with the flights to Orlando.
“Orlando’s always been one of our top markets,” Roberts said. “There’s no doubt it’s going to be successful.”
Through October of 2022, Orlando was Huntsville’s second most popular market with more than 30,000 travelers through the first 10 months of the year. Only Washington, D.C., with more than 41,000 travelers, was a more popular market.
Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver and Houston rounded out the top five.
Huntsville’s travel numbers can be found here:
https://www.flyhuntsville.com/huntsville-international-airport-statistics/
Scott Turner reports from Huntsville for the Lede.
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