John Glenn Airport extends strong year

This year has been a strong one for Columbus' two main airports.

John Glenn Columbus International Airport is on track to have its second-busiest year, while Rickenbacker Airport had achieved records in total passengers and cargo tonnage as of the end of November.

“As we head into the close of the year, our airports continue to report growth," said Tory Richardson, interim president and CEO of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, in a statement. “John Glenn International had its busiest November in airport-passenger history, while cargo was up an incredible 28 percent yearto-date at Rickenbacker.”

Airport statistics for November show the passenger total at John Glenn Airport was up 3.6 percent over the previous November. From January through last month, the airport had served 6.9 million travelers, up 3.4 percent over 2016.

Growth was driven primarily by Columbus' largest carrier, Southwest Airlines, and by Frontier Airlines.

Allegiant Air has continued to see strong growth since launching passenger service at Rickenbacker Airport in 2012.

Rickenbacker has seen growth from every cargo shipper except FedEx, the largest shipper by weight and flight operations; its tonnage has declined 1.1 percent this year. Cargolux, Cathay Pacific and Emirates have all experienced year-over-year growth of at leat 34 percent. Etihad has seen growth of more than 600 percent in both tonnage and flights. UPS tonnage has increased 5.4 percent.

International cargo has been the biggest growth area for Rickenbacker, with much of the cargo being ferried through the airport on behalf of Columbus-based apparel and footwear retailers.

Airport authority officials have been looking to build exports in niche areas such as livestock shipping to foreign markets. On Friday, Rickenbacker handled its largest shipment of horses. Seventyseven were scheduled to leave on a freighter bound for Saudi Arabia. That tops the 69 horses shipped from Rickenbacker to the Middle East on a flight in 2016.