Austin's sky portal, also known as the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, has seen a slight decline in passenger traffic according to their January 2025 numbers, posting a 5.38% decrease compared to the previous year. The City of Austin reported that 1,396,839 passengers took to the skies this January, a dip from January last year.
The data isn't all gloomy, though, while Southwest Airlines saw passenger numbers drop by 6.6% and American Airlines plummeted by a startling 27.3%, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines experienced an upswing with a 13.2% and 9.2% rise in passengers respectively, Alaska Airlines also made modest gains with a 4.9% increase, Frontier Airlines soared with a surprising 457.5% jump in passenger numbers, Spirit Airlines had fewer guests boarding their planes with a 14.4% decline, British Airways saw a moderate 10.7% hike in their numbers, and while Aeromexico's headcount went up by 63.8%, JetBlue Airways struggled with a substantial 68.1% drop.
The cargo traffic narrative tells a different story though, with the airport's total cargo weight for January 2025 hitting the scales at 20,346,270 lbs., which marks a 12.14% decrease from January 2024. International cargo shipments also felt this downward pressure, shrinking by 6.45%. Leaders in air cargo transport relayed mixed results; Air Transport International carried 7.77 million pounds, which shows a 7% decrement, while Federal Express saw a notable 30.3% reduction and United Parcel Services basically maintained with just a 0.2% decrease, Sun Country Airlines bucked the trend with a 16.4% increase in cargo carried, and Atlas Air faced a sizable 33.8% cut.
General Aviation operations presented a contrasting numeral tale, with a 9.69% uptick in their activities. However, combined operations, which include commercial airplanes and the military's, ticked down by 3.75%, according to the airport's tally. It's a mixed bag of aviation trends in Austin, with some airlines defying gravity while others seem to be grounded by economic realities, and cargo carriers navigating their own turbulent industry wind patterns.
