Houston Airport System handled 4.4. million passengers in November

The Greater Houston Partnership has issued the following press release:

The Houston Airport System (HAS) handled 4.4 million passengers in November ’21, up from 2.1 million in November ’20. This marked the sixth month in ’21 with passenger volume exceeding 4.0 million and the second-highest monthly passenger count since January ’20.

While passenger traffic remains below pre-pandemic levels, demand picked up in May, June and July before slipping in late August and September. During late summer, the surge of positive cases for the COVID-19 Delta variant contributed to the decrease in leisure and business travel. Passenger traffic increased mid-fall ’21 as infection rates dropped. International travel jumped in November after the U.S. eased restrictions for vaccinated global travelers from more than 30 countries. This new policy was put into place after deciding to protect the country from COVID-19 by focusing more on vaccination status and testing than maintaining rigid border controls.  

HAS handled 42.9 million passengers in the 12 months ending November ’21, a 55.3 percent increase from the 27.6 million handled over the same period in ’20.

• Domestic volume totaled 36.0 million, a 56.5 percent increase from 23.0 million.
• The 12-month international passenger volume totaled 6.9 million, up 50.0 percent from 4.6 million. 

According to Airlines for America, a trade association representing major North American carriers, revenues could fully recover to ’19 levels by the second half of ’22. This estimate is based largely on projections from monthly sales data of the seven largest U.S. carriers.