Summer Travel Season Ends on Record Note

CLT saw some of its highest passenger counts and broke records this summer.

“The past few months have been extremely busy,” said Chief Operating Officer Jerome Woodard. “In year’s past having 30,000 daily local passengers originating their trip at CLT was a big number for us. But this summer serving 30,000 daily local passengers was just an average day at the Airport.” 

From Memorial Day (known as the unofficial start to summer) through Labor Day (known as the unofficial end to summer), the Airport had an estimated 7.5 million enplanements, which is up 8% from the same time last year and in 2019 (pre-COVID-19). Enplanements are flyers boarding an aircraft. 

This five-day Labor Day weekend (Thursday, Aug. 31 through Monday, Sept. 4) also was the highest on record. Enplanements jumped 2% from 2022 and 4% from 2019. During that same holiday time, TSA screened 150,125 people, up from 129,357 in 2022 and 128,269 in 2019.

"Throughout the summer we had extra employees in the lobby to assist passengers,” Woodard said. “We also identified key areas where additional staff are needed. It was a great opportunity for us to tweak our operations to better serve our passengers and prepare for future busy travel periods."

Passenger traffic is expected to increase again during the holidays. If you’re planning a trip to visit family and friends, Don’t Fly by the Seat of Your Pants.

• Plan ahead.
• Book your parking when you book your flight. Visit parkCLT.com or the CLT Airport App.
• Be inside the Airport at least two hours before a domestic flight and three hours before an international flight.
• Check security wait times on CLT’s website or app.
• Sign up for TSA PreCheck® to help expedite your checkpoint screening time.
• Follow signage inside the terminal.