Travelers using the region’s three airports during the second quarter of 2024 are finding more seat availability at two, and roughly the same at the third, compared to a year before, according to new data.
Washington Dulles International Airport has 8.5 percent more aircraft seats available for the quarter than a year before, while Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airports will offer 6.2 percent more.
At Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, seat availability throughout the April-May-June period will run about 0.5 percent above the same time frame in 2023.
Figures come from the aviation-analytics firm Cirium and were reported May 2 by the Airlines for America trade group.
Of the nation’s largest airports, those in the Washington region are among 54 showing higher seat availability in the second quarter. Leading the pack were the airports in Philadelphia (+16.2%) and Charlotte (+15.9%).
Nine airports will have fewer seats than in the second quarter of 2023, led by Kahului Airport on the Hawaiian island of Maui (down 16.4% due in part to the impact of 2023 wildfires and resulting tourism slowdown) and San Jose (Calif.) Mineta Airport, down 7.5%).
Airlines for American projects a record 979 million U.S. airline passengers will be transported in 2024, up from 942 million in 2023. Both figures are above the 927 million taken in 2019 before COVID cut travel to 372 million trips in 2020. The total flight count rebounded to 666 million in 2021 and 853 million in 2022.
