San Antonio airport records record passenger numbers, but it’s far from one the nation’s busiest

San Antonio International Airport served nearly 11.1 million passengers last year, its highest-ever annual total and a 4% jump from 2023, city officials said Friday.

“SAT recovered quicker than many airports from the COVID-19 pandemic,” San Antonio Aviation Director Jesus Saenz said in an emailed statement. “Starting in 2023, we began to set monthly passenger records. That momentum carried into 2024, bringing another historic milestone for SAT and breaking the 11 million passenger mark for the first time.”

The growth comes as Mayor Ron Nirenberg and other city officials have prioritized growing SAT’s number of connections and direct flights. Most of those additions have been via regional, low-cost carriers. The city’s first nonstop European connection — a flight to Frankfurt, Germany on Condor — was discontinued by the leisure airline this year.

However, American Airlines is set to begin San Antonio’s first daily, nonstop service to Washington’s Regan airport in March.

Late last year, the city also started work on a new, $1.4 billion terminal that’s expected to bring the airport up to 17 domestic and international gates by mid-2028.

Even so, the passenger uptick is unlikely to translate to a major move on the list of the nation’s largest airports.

Last year, San Antonio International — considered a medium-sized airport — ranked 47th in the nation for passenger enplanements, right between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati in respective order, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

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This article appears in Jan 22 – Feb 4, 2025.