After two months of year-over-year declines, passenger traffic is back on the upswing at the Colorado Springs Airport.
Enplanements last month saw a 1.7% bump compared to August 2021, and a 25.9% increase when compared to August 2019, pre-COVID levels.
“We have seen the Colorado Springs Airport grow alongside the community in the last year,” said Greg Phillips, director of aviation, “and we’re excited to see where that growth takes us.”
A reshuffling among air carriers over the course of the pandemic, from the addition of Southwest in March 2021 to the imminent loss of Frontier Airlines at the start of November, accounts for some of the changes in traffic at the airport.
Frontier saw a more than 30% drop in passenger traffic year to date from August 2021 to 2022 while Southwest saw a nearly 80% increase.
The anticipated return of Delta’s nonstop service to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport next spring also has the potential to influence the airport’s traffic.
August’s boost in traffic at the airport comes as Colorado Springs was named No. 5 among the top 15 U.S. airports for percent growth in seats, with a more than 30% increase in available seats since 2019.
Southwest has contributed to the spike in available seats as the airline saw a 47.2% year-to-date increase in available seats in August.
Available seats dipped 5.5% overall in August 2021 as Delta, American Airlines and Frontier all experienced drops in enplanements and seat capacity, while Southwest was the only airline that didn’t report a drop in enplanements and seat capacity.
Phillips expects numbers to pick up more for the Colorado Springs Airport as the holiday season draws closer, especially since Southwest will operate a seasonal route to San Diego starting in late November.
