Austin–Bergstrom International Airport Handled Over 2 Million Passengers In July

Austin–Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) released their figures for passenger traffic for the month of July this year. The data shows that over two million passengers traveled through the airport during the month. However, the numbers are a little lower than last year’s figures.

Strong performance

While the airport would’ve preferred to continue growing year-on-year, this is untrue. For July this year, 2,039,531 passengers flew from AUS, a 0.07% reduction compared to last year’s 2,040,958, approximately 1,427 passengers.

Photo: lorenzatx | Shutterstock

According to AUS, the number of passengers flying out of the airport increased by 0.35% to 1.01 million, meaning that the number of passengers visiting the airport has fallen.

While isolated July data shows that the airport’s growth has dipped, the overall picture for 2024 shows a minor uptick. Total passenger traffic from January to July is 12,861,212, a 0.56% increase over last year.

Airline Performance

The performance of individual airlines is a bit all over the place, with six of the top ten airlines operating at the airport showing a reduction in travel. Spirit Airlines especially has seen a major reduction in travel of 65.3% over last year. Allegiant Airlines, which is in the process of removing routes from AUS, is also down 8.4%, a figure we expect will rise substantially in the coming months.

Southwest was the best-performing airline for AUS in July, with nearly 850,000 passengers, up 12.2% from last year. The airline is poised to increase its routes at AUS, which will increase its growth in the future.

Photo: lorenzatx | Shutterstock

The following shows the top ten operators at the airline and their figures for July:

Domestic Operators

1. Southwest Airlines passengers totaled 846,920, up 12.2%
2. American Airlines passengers totaled 396,646, down 14.6%
3. Delta Air Lines passengers totaled 305,566, up 13.2%
4. United Airlines passengers totaled 224,521, down 0.1%
5. Alaska Airlines passengers totaled 74,026, down 20%
6. Allegiant Air passengers totaled 44,182, down 8.4%
7. Spirit Airlines passengers totaled 26,640, down 65.3%
8. Frontier Airlines passengers totaled 20,001, up 139.6%
9. British Airways passengers totaled 18,153, up 0.1%
10. JetBlue Airways passengers totaled 17,792, down 25.4%

International Operators

1. Air Canada passengers totaled 17,004, up 63.2%
2. Lufthansa passengers totaled 11,892, up 72.9%
3. Aeromexico passengers totaled 9,403, up 64.7%
4. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines passengers totaled 7,062, up 20%
5. Hawaiian Airlines passengers totaled 6,395, down 38.6%
6. Copa Airlines passengers totaled 5,644, up 34.4%
7. Viva Aerobus passengers totaled 4,289
8. West Jet passengers totaled 2,355, down 5.6%
9. Sun Country Airlines passengers totaled 797, down 83.9%
10. Condor passengers totaled 243

Changes to AUS

As previously covered by Simple Flying, the low-cost South terminal at AUS is being shut down in favor of a new midfield concourse. However, the move has prompted low-cost carrier Allegiant, which has a massive presence and a crew base at the airport, to reduce capacity, stating that the airport can’t offer it the capacity and gates it needs to sustain its current operations.

Photo: lorenzatx | Shutterstock

The result is that the airport is losing many budget routes considered important for its bottom line. However, they are popular enough that other airlines are stepping in to fill the gap left by Allegiant. Southwest, for example, announced the introduction of a new route at AUS a month after Allegiant said it would reduce capacity.