Tide rises for Sky Harbor

Monthly statistics released Friday show that 4.38 million passengers traveled through Sky Harbor’s three terminals in March.

March is always a zoo at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport thanks to spring training, spring break and NASCAR, but this year’s crowds were recordbreaking.

Monthly statistics released Friday show that 4.38 million passengers traveled through Sky Harbor’s three terminals in March. That’s up 2.3 percent from March 2017, and is the most passengers the airport has handled in a month.

The previous record was nearly 4.3 million, set in March 2016.

The increase comes despite a dip in spring-training attendance.

Sky Harbor’s biggest tenants, American and Southwest airlines, each saw notable increases in passengers. Together the two dominate the airport, accounting for more than 80 percent of Sky Harbor’s passengers.

Southwest’s passenger counts were up 3.1 percent from a year ago, to 1,446,257. American carried 1,967,747 passengers in March, up 2.9 percent from March 2017.

Other notable passenger gains in March: Alaska Airlines, up 17.3 percent to 111,403 passengers, and Air Canada, up 15 percent to 37,778 passengers.

Discounters Frontier and Spirit, which offer bargain fares and charge for everything extra including carry-on bags, posted among the biggest passenger declines in March, each down about 17 percent.