Airport travel takes off
Will Rogers World Airport has second consecutive record-setting year
It’s no longer a question of if Will Rogers World Airport will set a record for passenger traffic this year, but rather just how big of a year it will be.
At the end of November, 3,975,365 passengers had flown in and out of the airport so far for the year, according to figures released this week. That’s about 50,000 more passengers than the airport had in all of 2017, which was also a record-setting year.
“It’s obviously very exciting for the airport to see this kind of growth,” said Karen Carney, an airport spokeswoman. “It certainly validates our terminal expansion project as we’re moving forward and get underway after the first of the year. But it also just says a lot about what’s happening in Oklahoma City and the metro area. It’s good news for everybody.”
Carney said they expect to finish the year with more than 4 million passengers.
“Looking at what we did last year, it’s probably not just going to creep over the top, but probably be about
4.3 million total passengers with a moderate guess,” she said.
Several factors have likely contributed to the growth, Carney said, including the fact that the Oklahoma City metro area is enjoying a good economy.
The airport also has added new air service during the course of the past year, including new airlines and new markets, creating more options for Oklahoma travelers. In some cases, airlines have added more capacity. Delta added larger aircraft to Atlanta, and American Airlines added larger aircraft to Dallas, Carney said.
Since last November, two new airlines, Frontier and Via, have started service at Will Rogers.
In June, American Airlines launched nonstop service to Philadelphia. In April, the carrier began
nonstop service to Phoenix. In October, Southwest started weekly service to Nashville. In November, Southwest Airlines launched a nonstop flight to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va. American Airlines plans to begin nonstop service to the airport in February.
“We know that more service stimulates the market, so that’s been really exciting to actually see that occur,” Carney said.
Developments in the metro area, even those not directly related to air travel, also help stimulate travel, Carney said. Airlines want to know what will drive people to fly, particularly business travelers, she said.
In the coming years, travelers who fly in and out of Oklahoma City will benefit from an airport terminal expansion project that will add four gates and include a streamlined security checkpoint and an observation deck, among other features.