Air travel looks very different now than it did just a few years ago when the coronavirus pandemic grounded folks around the world, putting a halt to travel for both leisure and business.
In 2020, passenger traffic on U.S. airlines was at its lowest since the mid-1980s, with just 369 million passengers. In 2021, the U.S. started to get back to more normal air travel levels, and by 2022, the country was up to 853 million airline passengers. By the looks of it, 2023 is likely to outpace those numbers and return to pre-pandemic levels—nearly 3 million people flew in and out of U.S. airports daily as of April 2023, according to data from the Federal Aviation Administration's Air Traffic Organization.
When you're at the airport, shuffling around with your roller bag, backpack, neck pillow, and water bottle among the thousands of other passengers doing the same, you're probably not too concerned with more than your flight. Is it on time? Who will be sitting next to you? Did your checked bag make it onto the plane?
But when you're not in flight mode, you may be wondering where all of the other folks at your local airport are traveling to. To answer that question, Stacker compiled a list of the most common domestic flights from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International using data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Destinations are ranked by total passengers from October 2022 to September 2023.
Read on to find out if your flight patterns are similar to your fellow Louis Armstrong New Orleans International travelers.
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1 / 20#20. Chicago Midway International (Chicago, IL)
- Passengers: 131,401 (2.1% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 131,292
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 109
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2 / 20#19. Tampa International (Tampa, FL)
- Passengers: 134,804 (2.2% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 87,599
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 44,576
--- #3. Silver Airways: 2,068
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3 / 20#18. Nashville International (Nashville, TN)
- Passengers: 141,094 (2.3% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 140,745
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 155
--- #3. Alaska Airlines: 154
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4 / 20#17. Harry Reid International (Las Vegas, NV)
- Passengers: 142,200 (2.3% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 75,289
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 53,634
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 13,053
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5 / 20#16. Miami International (Miami, FL)
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6 / 20#15. Ronald Reagan Washington National (Washington, DC)
- Passengers: 178,447 (2.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 78,575
--- #2. American Airlines: 51,186
--- #3. Republic Airline: 23,607
#14. Newark Liberty International (Newark, NJ)
- Passengers: 182,142 (3.0% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 155,483
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 22,303
--- #3. Republic Airline: 4,234
#13. Austin - Bergstrom International (Austin, TX)
- Passengers: 187,643 (3.1% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 140,423
--- #2. Envoy Air: 47,044
--- #3. American Airlines: 169
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9 / 20#12. Chicago O'Hare International (Chicago, IL)
- Passengers: 189,931 (3.1% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 94,045
--- #2. American Airlines: 51,534
--- #3. Spirit Air Lines: 30,186
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10 / 20#11. LaGuardia (New York, NY)
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11 / 20#10. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
- Passengers: 211,788 (3.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Spirit Air Lines: 97,507
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 79,456
--- #3. JetBlue Airways: 34,747
#9. William P Hobby (Houston, TX)
- Passengers: 215,360 (3.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 214,908
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 321
--- #3. Swift Air, LLC d/b/a Eastern Air Lines d/b/a Eastern: 101
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13 / 20#8. Los Angeles International (Los Angeles, CA)
- Passengers: 229,372 (3.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 123,108
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 55,724
--- #3. Southwest Airlines: 46,815
#7. Dallas Love Field (Dallas, TX)
- Passengers: 254,039 (4.1% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 253,499
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 271
--- #3. TEM Enterprises dba Avelo Airlines: 135
#6. Charlotte Douglas International (Charlotte, NC)
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16 / 20#5. Orlando International (Orlando, FL)
- Passengers: 272,680 (4.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 150,518
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 100,381
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 21,010
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17 / 20#4. Denver International (Denver, CO)
- Passengers: 282,981 (4.6% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 134,467
--- #2. United Air Lines: 120,645
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 27,642
#3. Dallas/Fort Worth International (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX)
- Passengers: 371,558 (6.1% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 320,338
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 48,179
--- #3. Envoy Air: 2,971
#2. George Bush Intercontinental/Houston (Houston, TX)
- Passengers: 394,663 (6.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 289,737
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 42,363
--- #3. Spirit Air Lines: 40,151
#1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (Atlanta, GA)
- Passengers: 685,745 (11.2% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 510,585
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 93,252
--- #3. Spirit Air Lines: 69,693
This story features data reporting by Rob Powell, writing by Jaimie Etkin, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 199 metros.
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