July Passenger Traffic at PIT Highest in Nearly 20 Years

Pittsburgh International Airport’s traffic volumes continue to push into territory not seen since the latter days of the US Airways hub.

Driven by strong demand for air travel, PIT experienced its busiest July since 2005 with over 962,000 travelers flying in and out of the airport on scheduled flights during the month. July’s numbers followed PIT’s June traffic, which also reached a new two-decade high.

Last month’s traffic was up 11.2 percent over July 2023’s total of 865,000 passengers. It was also 5.3 percent above the 914,000 fliers that traveled through PIT in July 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Year-to-date, passenger volumes at PIT are up 9.4 percent. More than 5.7 million passengers have traveled through the airport, the most since July 2007.

Over 1.25 million scheduled seats were flown by PIT’s airlines for the month, a 19 percent jump from the same period a year ago, while capacity was 118 percent of July 2019’s figures.

RELATED: Airlines to Break Records at PIT this Summer

“[July] was a very busy month again as passengers continue to take advantage of the flights, showing the strength of our market,” PIT CEO Christina Cassotis said at the Allegheny County Airport Authority’s monthly board meeting Aug. 23.

Along with strong demand, PIT’s capacity growth is tied to airlines “up-gauging” flights to larger aircraft.

Many carriers are ordering and receiving higher capacity Airbus A321neo and Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 9 aircraft for fleet modernization and future growth. In addition, airlines are phasing out 50-seat planes for larger regional aircraft, such as the Embraer E175, and even smaller mainline aircraft, like Airbus’ A319 and A220.

Ultra low-cost carriers (ULCCs) are also fueling PIT’s growth, including Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines. This year, Frontier began nonstop flights to Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia and Raleigh-Durham; Spirit also added daily, nonstop service to Boston, Houston-Intercontinental and New York-LaGuardia.

Internationally, Icelandair began service at PIT with nonstop, seasonal service to Reykjavik, Iceland, in May. In addition, PIT returned San Diego to its route map this summer with Breeze Airways and Southwest Airlines each launching nonstop, seasonal service to the market.

July also saw cargo volumes rise 14 percent year-over-year and 5.2 percent year-to-date at PIT. July’s increases come after UPS added additional mail cargo service at PIT with McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft and Amazon Air added a second daily flight.

RELATED: You’ve Got (More) Mail: UPS Adds Flights, Bigger Planes 

Labor Day weekend rounds the corner

This summer was one of the busiest on record for air travel nationally. And that is expected to roll into the Labor Day travel period, according to TSA.

The agency expects to screen more than 17 million people at airports nationwide between Thursday, Aug. 29, and Wednesday, Sept. 4. The peak travel day this year is projected to be Friday, Aug. 30 when TSA anticipates screening 2.86 million people. PIT is expecting big travel crowds this Thursday, Friday and Labor Day itself.

This summer has been the busiest in the agency’s nearly 23-year history, TSA reports. Current travel volumes are up 8.5 percent from last year, with the agency screening 239.8 million total travelers so far in 2024, an average of 2.7 million per day.

“People are traveling more than ever this summer and TSA along with our airline and airport partners stand ready to close the busiest summer travel period on record during this upcoming Labor Day weekend,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a statement.

In anticipation of record Labor Day travel, TSA is encouraging travelers to enroll in TSA PreCheck, where members do not need to remove shoes, belts, 3-1-1 liquids, laptops, food items and light jackets at the checkpoint. The agency also reminds travelers to review its top tips for more seamless air travel.

PIT offers TSA PreCheck and CLEAR to travelers for an expedited security screening process. Additional information, including how to sign up, can be found on TSA and CLEAR’s websites.

More new flights on the way

Even as summer begins to fade, PIT still has significant air service additions looming on the horizon of winter travel.

Beginning Nov. 23, Delta Air Lines will restore nonstop service between Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City with daily, year-round nonstop flights. This is the first time Delta will fly nonstop to Utah’s state capital since it last operated prior to the COVID-19 pandemic; until its resumption, Salt Lake City was also PIT’s largest unserved market.

RELATED: Mountain View: Delta Adds Pittsburgh-Salt Lake City Route 

Delta’s restoration of nonstop service reconnects Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City’s technology and medical industry ties and grants Pittsburghers a convenient flight choice to Utah’s world-class national parks, forests and recreational areas.

Additionally, Salt Lake City is one of Delta’s largest hubs with 90 destinations served, providing Pittsburghers seamless, one-stop itineraries to many destinations within the Mountain West, West Coast, Mexico, Western Canada, Hawaii and Alaska.

Along with Delta resuming service to Salt Lake City, Southwest Airlines will return nonstop service between Pittsburgh and Maimi starting Jan. 12, a route the carrier last served in early 2022.

Southwest will operate nonstop flights to Miami seasonally this winter on select peak travel days with 175-seat Boeing 737 aircraft, with flights increasing to daily through early April.

Southwest joins American Airlines’ twice daily service on the Pittsburgh-Miami route. It is also Southwest’s second nonstop flight between Pittsburgh and South Florida; it operates daily service to Fort Lauderdale alongside Spirit Airlines.