PIT’s September Traffic Hits 20-Year High

Travel demand from the Pittsburgh region remained strong in September even as the airline industry exits summer and prepares for the winter travel season.

More than 831,000 passengers passed through Pittsburgh International Airport last month, up 8.5 percent from the same period last year. Traffic during the month exceeded pre-pandemic totals from September 2019 by over 40,000 passengers.

September was also the busiest at PIT since 2004, the airport’s waning days as a US Airways hub. PIT now serves as an origin-and-destination facility, with a diversified mix of airlines serving the Pittsburgh market.

Airlines operated nearly 1.1 million scheduled seats at PIT in September, the most for the month since 2006. Total scheduled seats were up 12.7 percent year-over-year and exceeded 2019 levels by over 105,000 seats.

 

Big contributors to PIT’s seat growth during the month included Southwest and American airlines, the airport’s two largest airlines by market share. As of September, Southwest remains the top carrier at PIT with 23.6 percent of total passengers flown, with American close behind at 21.9 percent.

Spirit is the largest ultra-low-cost airline by passengers flown and the airport’s fifth-largest carrier overall with 9.6 percent of the airport’ traffic as of last month.

International passengers at PIT were up 20.8 percent last month from September 2023, with growth fueled by Icelandair’s Pittsburgh-Reykjavik route that began in May and British Airways’ continued growth on the Pittsburgh-London route.

Year-to-date, traffic at PIT is up 9.7 percent overall, as more than 7.5 million passengers have traveled through the airport so far in 2024. Total year-to-date passengers at PIT have been the busiest since 2007, a trend that began this summer.

Cargo also continued growth in September, as more than 14.6 million pounds of freight passed through PIT last month, a 5.3 percent increase from one year ago. Major drivers of growth include Amazon, which resumed a second daily flight earlier this year, and British Airways, which is carrying more cargo on its scheduled nonstop service between Pittsburgh and London.

Mail also continues to surge at PIT. Volumes were up 115.6 percent year-over-year last month, the largest monthly increase at the airport so far this year. Mail totals have risen at PIT since UPS upgraded its mail flights to McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and Boeing 767-300 aircraft this summer after the company was awarded the United States Postal Service contract earlier this year.

Flights added for the winter

Seasonal service to two popular sunny destinations is returning for winter travel and a key Western U.S. city will be added to PIT’s route map in the coming weeks.

Beginning Nov. 9, American will resume its seasonal, nonstop service between Pittsburgh and Cancun, with flights scheduled through March 29, 2025. American will operate flights on Saturdays with a morning outbound and afternoon inbound scheduled on Airbus A321 aircraft.

American re-launched its Pittsburgh-Cancun nonstops last year flying the route on Saturdays with a mix of A321 and Boeing 737-800 aircraft; American last served the route in 2018. American is one of four airlines that operate nonstop service to Cancun along with Southwest and tour operators Apple Vacations and Vacation Express.

Later in the month, Delta Air Lines will fill a gap in the Pittsburgh schedule by resuming daily, nonstop service between Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City had been the largest unserved market from Pittsburgh by passengers per day each way and the last remaining domestic route from Pittsburgh that was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Delta will increase capacity on the Pittsburgh-Salt Lake City route when it resumes with 160-seat Boeing 737-800s that provide 21 percent more seats than the Airbus A319s that Delta operated the route with prior to the pandemic.

Home to a growing economy, Salt Lake City boasts strong technology and medical industries, sharing important connections with Western Pennsylvania. It is also located in the epicenter of world-class outdoor activities, such as skiing, and is close to several national parks, forests and recreational areas.

As one of Delta’s largest hubs with nearly 90 destinations, Salt Lake City will enable Pittsburghers seamless, one-stop itineraries to destinations within the Mountain West, West Coast, Mexico, Western Canada, Hawaii and Alaska.

Starting on Jan. 12, Southwest will resume seasonal, nonstop service between Pittsburgh and Miami. It will be the first time the carrier has served the Pittsburgh-Miami route since early 2022.

Scheduled to operate on 175-seat Boeing 737 aircraft, Southwest will fly the Pittsburgh-Miami route on select peak travel days through May.

Southwest joins American’s twice daily service to its Miami hub from PIT. Flights to Miami will operate alongside daily nonstop flights between Pittsburgh and nearby Fort Lauderdale served by Southwest and Spirit.