Airport sets new record with 2 million passengers (Atlanta, Columbus: 2015, movies)

[Airforceguy]

With this kind of amazing growth I could see the airport hitting 3 million in 10 or 15 years...

More than 2 million passengers came through the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport last year, a 6 percent increase over 2014 and a new record for the airport.

For the first time in 10 years, the airport boarded more than 1 million passengers, finishing the year at 1,017,065. Another 1,010,197 passengers arrived in 2015, bringing the total to 2,027,027.

Delta Airlines accounted for the lion’s share of travelers, with a market share of 47.6 percent. American was second at 24.7 percent, followed by United at 13.4 percent, JetBlue at 12 percent, Allegiant at 1.7 percent and Sun Country at .2 percent.

The average load factor — a percentage of the available seats filled — was 84 percent, up 2 percentage points over 2014.

In May, the airport celebrated the start of new service with Allegiant Airlines and the debut of nonstop departures between Savannah and Cincinnati, Columbus and Akron-Canton, Ohio. Allegiant brought with it low-cost leisure travel, providing customers with low base fares averaging nearly half the cost of the average domestic round-trip fare.

In addition, Sun Country Airlines entered the market in August with seasonal service to Minneapolis/St. Paul.

More than 45 daily non-stop departures are available to Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Delta will begin seasonal nonstop service to Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Sun Country will return with MSP service in April.

Based on the success of its Ohio flights, Allegiant has announced new service, beginning this spring, from Savannah to Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Lexington, Ky., as well as the resumption of its seasonal service to the Ohio markets.

Airport sets new record with 2 million passengers | BiS | Business in Savannah News

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by Airforceguy

With this kind of amazing growth I could see the airport hitting 3 million in 10 or 15 years...

Airport sets new record with 2 million passengers | BiS | Business in Savannah News

Another low cost carrier like Southwest or Frontier and it won't take 10 years. Tourism is rapidly expanding beyond regional / car trips. We're already seeing a huge leap in weekend leisure travel by air from the NE and Midwest.

Only 98 million to go to catch up to ATL!

[Airforceguy]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Another low cost carrier like Southwest or Frontier and it won't take 10 years. Tourism is rapidly expanding beyond regional / car trips. We're already seeing a huge leap in weekend leisure travel by air from the NE and Midwest.

Only 98 million to go to catch up to ATL!

You make a good point Newsboy. Also, I would like to see direct flights from Savannah to the West Coast and flights to Canada as well.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by Airforceguy

You make a good point Newsboy. Also, I would like to see direct flights from Savannah to the West Coast and flights to Canada as well.

I've been told by someone in the industry that a new flight to Canada might be coming, probably seasonal. Nonstops to the west aren't gonna happen even if Southwest enters the market. That's too far to be economical for anybody other than Delta, and as far as we know they may already be selling flights to Savannah via Atlanta anyway.

What we're missing is a flight to Florida. Spirit was supposed to start one to Orlando but changed their minds. A Miami or Fort Lauderdale flight seems like a no-brained since that's a pretty long drive. I think Eastern was the last to fly SAV to MIA. I cousin see JetBlue filling that niche easily and successfully.

[Airforceguy]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

I've been told by someone in the industry that a new flight to Canada might be coming, probably seasonal. Nonstops to the west aren't gonna happen even if Southwest enters the market. That's too far to be economical for anybody other than Delta, and as far as we know they may already be selling flights to Savannah via Atlanta anyway.

What we're missing is a flight to Florida. Spirit was supposed to start one to Orlando but changed their minds. A Miami or Fort Lauderdale flight seems like a no-brained since that's a pretty long drive. I think Eastern was the last to fly SAV to MIA. I cousin see JetBlue filling that niche easily and successfully.

This is true, Savannah does need direct flights to Florida. Especially considering the number of Floridians that come to Savannah for the weekend. As for the direct flights to the West Coast, I thought seasonal flights from SAV to LAX would work considering the increasing amount of movies that are being made in Savannah now.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by Airforceguy

This is true, Savannah does need direct flights to Florida. Especially considering the number of Floridians that come to Savannah for the weekend. As for the direct flights to the West Coast, I thought seasonal flights from SAV to LAX would work considering the increasing amount of movies that are being made in Savannah now.

Out of curiosity and as a point of comparison, I just checked Charlston's destinations. They only have one west of the Mississippi River -- Alaska Air to Sea-Tac, and only because of Boeing's assembly plant in Charleston. Southwest will begin flying to Denver in June.

Beyond that, the ONLY cities they have that we do not is Nashville (Southwest), Miami (American) and Ft Lauderdale (JetBlue). Our chances of eventually getting a JetBlue flight to Ft. Lauderdale are pretty good I think.

Here's where it gets interesting: With the new seasonal flights, Savannah now has more unque destinations (Charleston has flights to both Chicago and Houston airports while Savannah does not).

Here's how the two compare across all airlines (duplicates listed only once):

SAVANNAH
Atlanta
Charlotte
Chicago O'Hare
Dallas-FW
Houston
Minneapolis-SP
NY Kennedy
NY LaGuardia
Newark
Washington National
Washington Dulles
Baltimore-Washington
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Boston
Akron-Canton
Columbus
Cincinnati
Lexington
Indianapolis
Detroit

CHARLESTON

Atlanta
Charlotte
Chicago O'Hare
Chicago Midway
Dallas-FW
Houston Bush
Houston Hobby
NY Kennedy
NY LaGuardia
Newark
Washington National
Washington Dulles
Baltimore-Washington
Philadelphia
Boston
Detroit
Miami
Ft Lauderdale
Nashville
Seattle
Denver

[Newsboy]

DID YOU KNOW? Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, the busiest airport in the state of Alabama, had 2.6 million passengers TOTAL in 2014. Through the month of November, the total for 2015 was 2,483,708.

With more than 2 million last year and tons more routes about to come online, it's conceivable that SAV will surpass BHM within a few short years.

[Airforceguy]

I didn't realize Birmingham's airport only had 2.6 million passengers. It's crazy to think Charleston,SC has a busier airport. But I suspect a lot of people in Bham drive to Atlanta's airport, which is kinda strange to since its 2 hours way and Bham's airport offers a decent selection of destinations. It would certainly be something though if Savannah were to surpass Birmingham in the next 10 or 15 years.

[WanderingImport]

In reference to Eastern, you know they've begun service again out of Miami.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by WanderingImport

In reference to Eastern, you know they've begun service again out of Miami.

I heard they were working on it. Restoring the SAV-MIA route would be a good move for them since nobody else is currently flying to Florida.