You don't think of September as being a big travel month, but San Antonio International Airport smashed another passenger record last month, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
781,000 passengers boarded or got off of airplanes at SAT last month, that is up nearly 14% over passenger figures for September of 2017, and will come closer to pushing the airport over the 10 million passengers for the year line for the first time ever.
“SAT has now had consecutive passenger growth for the past 27 months. Our air service team is always working to increase the air service options for our customers,” said Russ Handy, Aviation Director for the City of San Antonio.
There are several reasons for the strong passenger growth.
First of all, this has been a banner year for tourism in the city, with the Men's NCAA Final Four and the Tricentennial capping a busy year of events that attracted thousands of tourists.
The San Antonio Missions World Heritage Site is gaining traction among travelers from around the world, and Handy points out that international travel into San Antonio is up 14% over last year.
The strong economy also gets much of the credit, with both conventions and leisure travel numbers up significantly.
But the main reason appears to be the new airlines, new flights, and new non-stop service introduced at the airport recently. And existing carriers have added capacity to meet the demand.
This is the reason why the city has jump started plans for an expanded airport, with City Council expected to vote next month on the future of an airport master plan which calls for additional gates and runways to serve the increase in traffic expected over the coming decades.