Reviewed by: Nathan Watson
BHM traffic reaches new heights with 3.2M travelers in 2024
Reading time: 2 minutes
Passenger traffic at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM) continues to grow and served 3.2 million travelers in 2024.
For the calendar year 2024, BHM traffic grew 6% over 2023, a total increase of 186,798 passengers.
BHM ended 2024 with a flourish
Alabama’s largest airport finished the year with a flourish in December with an 11% increase in 2023 to 2024 traffic.
“We continue to see robust growth which is encouraging for so many reasons. This is the kind of trend that can really catch the attention of airline network planners. As we continue making a business case to airlines for more flights and more routes, we are standing on solid ground when we say our market is growing and the demand for travel continues to rise.”
Kim Hunt, Vice President of Communications
In the final quarter of 2024, Spirit Airlines became BHM’s fifth airline serving the community adding three nonstop routes.
Southwest, Delta and American continue to handle about 86+% of the passenger market share at BHM.
Airline travel growing nationally and Alabama
Post-pandemic air travel continues to grow globally, nationally and locally. In the 2024 Annual World Airport Traffic Report released in June 2024, the Airports Council International (ACI) predicted a 10% increase in 2024 air travel, led by a 17% jump in international travel. U.S. domestic travel was expected to increase 6% year over year—the exact same increase BHM saw in 2024.
Besides Birmingham’s uptick in the number of passengers using air travel, neighboring Huntsville International Airport reported in December 2024 surpassed for the first time 1.5 million passengers, according to Bham Now’s sister publication Hville Blast.
More flights possible at BHM because of growth
What does BHM’s continued passenger growth mean in the long run for The Magic City?
Hunt summed it up best:
“As travelers begin to plan those spring and summer vacations, we hope they’ll take a fresh look at our nonstop service to 21 airport destinations in 18 cities. The more we use the service currently offered at BHM, the better our chances of getting more.”
Excited to see BHM continue to grow and expand? Have you taken a flight out of the airport lately? Tag us @bhamnow to let us know your thoughts!
