Sacramento International Airport continues to show consistent growth in passengers compared to last year, airport officials have announced. Compared to 2013, total passengers increased 2.4 percent in the first eight months of 2014. In August alone, passenger numbers jumped 7 percent, and in July, traffic was up by 4 percent over last year.
The increase is especially significant because, for the first time since 2007, it includes five consecutive months of improved passenger traffic.
“This is an important milestone for us and we are cautiously optimistic that we are in a pattern of steady improvements that will continue until the end of the year,” said John Wheat, Director of Airports for the Sacramento County Department of Airports. “We are very grateful to our business and leisure travelers for supporting their hometown airport, as this helps us make the case to airlines that Sacramento can support additional flights.”
Wheat attributed the increase to improvements in the regional economy, as well as additional airline seat capacity as a result of larger airplanes and some additional flights to existing destinations.
In the first eight months of 2014, total passengers on US Airways increased 12.2 percent, Delta Airlines and Delta Connection 6.9 percent; Alaska Airlines/Horizon 4.1 percent; and Southwest 1.3 percent over the previous year. Passengers on international carriers Aeromexico and Volaris jumped 50.8 percent and 31.9 percent, respectively.
The largest increase in passenger numbers was on Southwest, which served 40,153 more passengers compared to the first eight months of 2013. Southwest is the airport’s largest carrier, accounting for more than half of all air traffic.
US Airways saw the second largest increase in passenger numbers, with 39,440 more passengers flying out of Sacramento International Airport in the first eight months of 2014. One factor for the increase was US Airways’ decision to start seasonal service to Charlotte in March instead of May, as it has in previous years.
ABOUT SACRAMENTO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (SMF)
Sacramento International Airport is a self-supporting enterprise offering between 120 and 130 daily nonstop flights on 10 domestic and international carriers to 25 cities. The regional economic impact of the airport system is more than $4 billion annually.
The Sacramento County Department of Airports is responsible for planning, developing, operating and maintaining the county’s four airports: Sacramento International Airport, Executive Airport, Mather Airport and Franklin Field.
For more information, visit www.smf.aero.