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 General Mitchell 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 General Mitchell International travelers.
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1 / 20#20. John F. Kennedy International (New York, NY)
- Passengers: 56,700 (2.0% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. JetBlue Airways: 33,297
--- #2. SkyWest Airlines: 13,130
--- #3. Endeavor Air: 10,152
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2 / 20#19. Seattle/Tacoma International (Seattle, WA)
- Passengers: 56,751 (2.0% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Alaska Airlines: 56,751
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3 / 20#18. Tampa International (Tampa, FL)
- Passengers: 60,774 (2.2% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 60,774
#17. Newark Liberty International (Newark, NJ)
- Passengers: 63,399 (2.2% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Republic Airline: 44,619
--- #2. United Air Lines: 18,262
--- #3. Delta Air Lines: 518
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5 / 20#16. Ronald Reagan Washington National (Washington, DC)
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6 / 20#15. Logan International (Boston, MA)
- Passengers: 72,520 (2.6% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. JetBlue Airways: 34,321
--- #2. SkyWest Airlines: 24,110
--- #3. Republic Airline: 12,270
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7 / 20#14. LaGuardia (New York, NY)
- Passengers: 74,140 (2.6% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Endeavor Air: 52,339
--- #2. Republic Airline: 14,263
--- #3. SkyWest Airlines: 7,434
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8 / 20#13. St Louis Lambert International (St. Louis, MO)
- Passengers: 76,665 (2.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 76,472
--- #2. United Air Lines: 193
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9 / 20#12. Nashville International (Nashville, TN)
- Passengers: 93,028 (3.3% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 93,025
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10 / 20#11. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall (Baltimore, MD)
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11 / 20#10. Detroit Metro Wayne County (Detroit, MI)
- Passengers: 124,285 (4.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 98,384
--- #2. SkyWest Airlines: 22,663
--- #3. Endeavor Air: 2,909
#9. Charlotte Douglas International (Charlotte, NC)
- Passengers: 125,083 (4.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 114,946
--- #2. PSA Airlines: 9,827
--- #3. Delta Air Lines: 208
#8. Dallas/Fort Worth International (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX)
- Passengers: 130,647 (4.6% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 130,647
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14 / 20#7. Phoenix Sky Harbor International (Phoenix, AZ)
- Passengers: 148,705 (5.3% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 103,061
--- #2. American Airlines: 45,521
ostreetphotography // Shutterstock
15 / 20#6. Minneapolis-St Paul International (Minneapolis, MN)
- Passengers: 160,204 (5.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 134,518
--- #2. SkyWest Airlines: 19,816
--- #3. Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines: 5,508
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16 / 20#5. Chicago O'Hare International (Chicago, IL)
- Passengers: 163,708 (5.8% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. SkyWest Airlines: 82,279
--- #2. Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp: 66,612
--- #3. Envoy Air: 9,336
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17 / 20#4. Harry Reid International (Las Vegas, NV)
- Passengers: 165,177 (5.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 88,883
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 52,027
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 23,608
Songquan Deng // Shutterstock
18 / 20#3. Orlando International (Orlando, FL)
- Passengers: 222,493 (7.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 131,056
--- #2. Spirit Air Lines: 53,241
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 38,196
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19 / 20#2. Denver International (Denver, CO)
- Passengers: 278,862 (9.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 156,092
--- #2. SkyWest Airlines: 50,065
--- #3. United Air Lines: 40,306
#1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (Atlanta, GA)
- Passengers: 338,473 (12.0% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 289,470
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 48,939
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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