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 William P Hobby 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 William P Hobby travelers.
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#20. Dallas/Fort Worth International (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX)
- Passengers: 124,315 (2.0% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Envoy Air: 57,198
--- #2. SkyWest Airlines: 34,662
--- #3. Mesa Airlines: 32,278
AevanStock // Shutterstock
2 / 20#19. Tampa International (Tampa, FL)
- Passengers: 126,088 (2.0% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 125,731
--- #2. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 184
--- #3. Allegiant Air: 173
mariakray // Shutterstock
3 / 20#18. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
- Passengers: 139,568 (2.2% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 139,279
--- #2. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 276
Thiago Leite // Shutterstock
4 / 20#17. LaGuardia (New York, NY)
- Passengers: 143,027 (2.3% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 143,027
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
5 / 20#16. Will Rogers World (Oklahoma City, OK)
#15. Austin - Bergstrom International (Austin, TX)
- Passengers: 148,914 (2.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 148,891
#14. Valley International (Harlingen/San Benito, TX)
- Passengers: 148,999 (2.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 148,981
Joe Hendrickson // Shutterstock
8 / 20#13. St Louis Lambert International (St. Louis, MO)
- Passengers: 164,237 (2.6% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 164,187
Strike First // Shutterstock
9 / 20#12. Los Angeles International (Los Angeles, CA)
- Passengers: 166,983 (2.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 166,450
--- #2. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 272
--- #3. Delta Air Lines: 261
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
10 / 20#11. San Antonio International (San Antonio, TX)
f11photo // Shutterstock
11 / 20#10. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall (Baltimore, MD)
- Passengers: 182,094 (2.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 182,094
Brian Wilson Photography // Shutterstock
12 / 20#9. Nashville International (Nashville, TN)
- Passengers: 193,616 (3.1% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 193,456
--- #2. Allegiant Air: 118
TFoxFoto // Shutterstock
13 / 20#8. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International (New Orleans, LA)
- Passengers: 216,123 (3.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 215,567
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 281
--- #3. JetBlue Airways: 146
Nate Hovee // Shutterstock
14 / 20#7. Phoenix Sky Harbor International (Phoenix, AZ)
- Passengers: 221,893 (3.6% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 221,637
--- #2. Swift Air, LLC d/b/a Eastern Air Lines d/b/a Eastern: 197
marchello74 // Shutterstock
15 / 20#6. Chicago Midway International (Chicago, IL)
Songquan Deng // Shutterstock
16 / 20#5. Orlando International (Orlando, FL)
- Passengers: 251,568 (4.1% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 227,838
--- #2. Frontier Airlines: 23,361
--- #3. TEM Enterprises dba Avelo Airlines: 165
randy andy // Shutterstock
17 / 20#4. Harry Reid International (Las Vegas, NV)
- Passengers: 283,000 (4.6% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 254,421
--- #2. Frontier Airlines: 28,252
--- #3. Allegiant Air: 241
Andrew Zarivny // Shutterstock
18 / 20#3. Denver International (Denver, CO)
- Passengers: 342,068 (5.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 301,724
--- #2. Frontier Airlines: 40,150
--- #3. Delta Air Lines: 106
#2. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (Atlanta, GA)
- Passengers: 344,935 (5.6% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 195,640
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 149,244
#1. Dallas Love Field (Dallas, TX)
- Passengers: 434,358 (7.0% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 414,162
--- #2. Delux Public Charter LLC: 19,859
--- #3. Delta Air Lines: 172
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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