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 Will Rogers World 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 Will Rogers World travelers.
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1 / 20#20. Orlando International (Orlando, FL)
- Passengers: 18,074 (0.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 17,587
--- #2. Atlas Air: 337
ostreetphotography // Shutterstock
2 / 20#19. Minneapolis-St Paul International (Minneapolis, MN)
- Passengers: 23,510 (1.1% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. SkyWest Airlines: 22,984
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 275
--- #3. Southwest Airlines: 251
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3 / 20#18. San Antonio International (San Antonio, TX)
- Passengers: 29,642 (1.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 29,367
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 153
--- #3. Mesa Airlines: 122
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4 / 20#17. Los Angeles International (Los Angeles, CA)
- Passengers: 44,370 (2.1% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. SkyWest Airlines: 43,168
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 667
--- #3. Delta Air Lines: 290
#16. Salt Lake City International (Salt Lake City, UT)
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6 / 20#15. LaGuardia (New York, NY)
- Passengers: 45,399 (2.2% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Republic Airline: 29,911
--- #2. Endeavor Air: 7,821
--- #3. SkyWest Airlines: 7,200
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7 / 20#14. Seattle/Tacoma International (Seattle, WA)
- Passengers: 50,750 (2.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Alaska Airlines: 50,678
#13. Austin - Bergstrom International (Austin, TX)
- Passengers: 52,947 (2.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 38,608
--- #2. SkyWest Airlines: 7,658
--- #3. Envoy Air: 6,427
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9 / 20#12. Ronald Reagan Washington National (Washington, DC)
- Passengers: 53,488 (2.6% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 31,077
--- #2. Republic Airline: 15,859
--- #3. PSA Airlines: 3,474
marchello74 // Shutterstock
10 / 20#11. Chicago Midway International (Chicago, IL)
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11 / 20#10. St Louis Lambert International (St. Louis, MO)
- Passengers: 76,924 (3.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 76,897
#9. Charlotte Douglas International (Charlotte, NC)
- Passengers: 85,999 (4.1% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 77,509
--- #2. PSA Airlines: 8,311
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13 / 20#8. Chicago O'Hare International (Chicago, IL)
- Passengers: 98,765 (4.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. SkyWest Airlines: 81,702
--- #2. Envoy Air: 15,662
--- #3. Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp: 1,196
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14 / 20#7. Harry Reid International (Las Vegas, NV)
- Passengers: 114,020 (5.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 79,843
--- #2. Frontier Airlines: 19,842
--- #3. Allegiant Air: 14,335
Nate Hovee // Shutterstock
15 / 20#6. Phoenix Sky Harbor International (Phoenix, AZ)
- Passengers: 138,486 (6.6% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 85,311
--- #2. SkyWest Airlines: 44,817
--- #3. American Airlines: 7,053
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#5. George Bush Intercontinental/Houston (Houston, TX)
- Passengers: 143,577 (6.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Mesa Airlines: 72,356
--- #2. SkyWest Airlines: 36,533
--- #3. United Air Lines: 30,553
#4. William P Hobby (Houston, TX)
- Passengers: 144,122 (6.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 143,811
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 215
#3. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (Atlanta, GA)
- Passengers: 222,619 (10.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 184,865
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 35,070
--- #3. SkyWest Airlines: 2,684
Andrew Zarivny // Shutterstock
19 / 20#2. Denver International (Denver, CO)
- Passengers: 270,731 (13.0% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 153,663
--- #2. SkyWest Airlines: 73,978
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 27,253
#1. Dallas/Fort Worth International (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX)
- Passengers: 309,227 (14.8% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 280,770
--- #2. Envoy Air: 17,405
--- #3. SkyWest Airlines: 7,604
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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