Austin airport smashes passenger record with busiest year ever in 2022
According to a news release, 21,089,289 passengers made their way through the South Austin airport last year, up a startling 55.40% compared to 2021. Demand not only bounced back from pre-pandemic levels in 2022, it far exceeded them, as large, in-person events like SXSW returned to the city last year.
The holiday rush made December 2022 the busiest December in AUS history, with 1,717,601 passengers flying that month, up 7.63% over December 2021. May was the busiest month overall at AUS, with 2,021,747 passengers.
In 2022, the airport added KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Virgin Atlantic airlines to its roster and resumed Lufthansa services. It also added eight nonstop destinations and reinstated two that had gone on hiatus, for a total of 97 total nonstop destinations out of AUS in 2022.
The airport also had some stats on what passengers were buying while they waited for their flights to depart. In 2022, airport concessions sold 9,087 Keep Austin Weird shirts and 43,169 boxes of Lammes candies.
As for food, Salt Lick BBQ sold 104,130 pounds of brisket alone, and the various taco stands at AUS sold 791,184 tacos to hungry passengers.
