Huntsville International Airport Finishes 2008 with Increased Passenger Volume

Huntsville International Airport recently announced it served 1,254,745 passengers during 2008, a 1.2 percent increase in passenger traffic over 2007.

“Given the current state of the economy, we are extremely pleased to have ended the year on a positive note – falling just short of our all-time record of 1,265,153 passengers, which was set in 2005,” stated Rick Tucker, executive director, Huntsville International Airport. “We are certainly the exception to the rule with regard to most airports nationwide.”

Tucker admits the trend by commercial airlines to reduce both capacity and schedules will continue to have an effect on the numbers for 2009. Huntsville International Airport’s schedule for the month of January had 13 percent less flights and 10 percent less seats.

“The cuts that we are experiencing here in Huntsville are representative of those being felt across the United States,” Tucker said.

The January schedule for Nashville International Airport had 10 percent less flights and 12 percent less seats while Birmingham International Airport had 16.6 percent less flights and 16.3 percent less seats.

According to Mark McDaniel, Chairman of Board of Directors of Huntsville International Airport, “We strive to provide our customers with the first-class service that they have come to expect from Huntsville International. The number of passengers using the airport this year tells us that we continue to meet their expectations. We strive to educate our community that not only is it quicker and more convenient to fly out of their home airport, but also it can be more economical when utilizing options such as the Huntsville Hot Ticket fare alert e-mail program and Huntsville Hot Ticket Hot Line – a free information and ticket booking service provided through Huntsville International Airport.”