SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City International Airport is benefiting big time from the post-pandemic travel boom and there are numbers to prove it.
For the fiscal year between July 2022 and June 2023, 26,421,401 passengers went through the doors of the airport, breaking the previous record from 2019.
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Of those passengers, 1,085,640 were international travelers, which is a 22% increase from 2019.
"It's wonderful for the local economy because not only are these passengers that are flying out of Salt Lake City also, we're seeing these passengers fly into Salt Lake and to Utah, so it's great for our tourist economy," said airport spokesperson Nancy Volmer.
Airport leaders attributed the increase to travelers wanting to fly to Europe after the pandemic, as well as increased flight services to London and Germany.
As for all-time records, officials say they're on track to beat those as well.
Currently, the highest passenger count the airport has recorded was during the 2019 calendar year, with 26,808,014 travelers.
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With only 390,000 passengers needed to crash through that record and five months left of 2023, the airport is confident they'll achieve that milestone at some point during the remainder of the year.
“We are on track to a full recovery from the pandemic," Bill Wyatt, executive director of the Salt Lake City Department of Airports said in a statement. “At the height of the pandemic a couple of years ago it didn’t seem possible. To see domestic travel rebound so quickly is remarkable, but to see international travel up by double digits is astounding.”
The record-breaking passenger counts are putting the refurbished airport to good use. Before its remodel, the airport was built to accommodate ten million passengers. When its fully completed, the new airport will accommodate 34 million passengers.
In May 2023, new gates were unveiled as part of the airport expansion to serve more customers on the eastern side of Concourse A. Through the rest of 2023, even more gates in Concourse A will be opened.
