Air travel up at Tulsa International Airport

[MichaelC]

From KTUL

Tulsa - More and more people are traveling by air these days, and the state's largest airports are reporting increases in the number of passengers.

At Tulsa International Airport, more than 137-thousand passengers were counted in March -- a nearly 6-point-5 percent increase.

Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport got a big boost from the NCAA Wrestling Tournament as well as a convention and spring break travel. Will Rogers saw an increase of 10-point-3 percent with more than 160-thousand passengers boarding planes.

And, in Lawton, after successive declines in the first two months of the year, Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport saw a slight increase in passenger traffic last month.

Nationwide, air traffic was also up. [/url]

[Oil Capital]

Tulsa Airport passenger traffic statistics:

2019:  3,053,532   (1,504,712 enplaned)
2018:  3,048,357   (1,488,571 enplaned)
2017:  1,369,978 enplaned (for no apparent reason, this is all TAIT has posted)
2016:  2,810,537   (1,359,609 enplaned)
2015:  2,816,967   (1,374,586 enplaned)
2014:  2,840,324  
2013:  2,733,510
2012:  2,740,338
2011:  2,794,751
2010:  2,846,588
2009:  2,888,858
2008:  3,261,560
2007:  3,300,422

[ComeOnBenjals]

Good to see it growing (gradually). Looks like they've added some more direct flights as well.

[Oil Capital]

78th busiest airport in the US as of 2018 (between El Paso and Birmingham).  If recent trends continue through 2020, we will drop to about 83rd, below Birmingham, Albany, Orlando Sanford, Savannah, and Des Moines and (maybe) above Rochester, New York (and we're not off to a good start.  Passenger traffic was down 4.16% compared to January 2019).

[SXSW]

Once the MAX returns hopefully Southwest can add back some of their routes they have cut between TUL and DEN.  The following adds would get TUL back closer in-line to OKC (WRWA):
Add Alaska Airlines: 1x daily nonstop to SEA, potential to increase to 2x if successful (esp. with the Alaska/AA JV)
United: resume 1x daily nonstops to IAD & EWR, add 1x to SFO
American: 1x daily nonstops to PHX (to compete with Southwest), PHL and MIA
Delta: resume 1x daily nonstop to DTW, add 1x to LGA
Southwest: resume 1x daily nonstop to MDW, add 1x to OAK & increase frequency to DEN & BWI

TUL's biggest deficiencies are to the Bay Area, Pacific Northwest and major East Coast cities, which hurts attracting businesses.  If TUL can shore that up they will have most of the bases covered domestically.  

[Oil Capital]

2020 Airport Passenger Traffic Statistics:

January:  207,686, down 4.16% from 2019
February:  199,456, down 3.9%
March:  112,780  down 53.31%
April:  10,671   down 95.53%
May:  34,969  down 87.41%
June:  75,972  down 73.43%
July:  115,217  down 60.68%
August:  109,738  down 58.66%
September:  108,951  down 56.47%
October:  123,900  down 55.1%
November:  120,384  down 50.99%
December:  112,728  down 55.92%
Calendar Year 2020:  1,332,433   down 56.36% from 2019


2021 Airport Passenger Traffic Statistics:

January:  94,355  down 54.6% from 2020
February:  88,853  down 55.45% from 2020
March:  154,222  up 36.75% from 2020  (down 36.15% from 2019)

[shavethewhales]

Just saw TUL post that the garages are basically full and economy is filling up quick. They are asking people who are flying out of TUL to get to the airport by means other than parking at TUL for the next few days.

I know it's spring break, but I don't recall them running out of parking for a long time. Of course, this is coming out of the pandemic years, but still.

A good sign for growth of the airport and a sign that a new economy garage is needed. Those blood suckers get 20-40 dollars out of me every time I fly just for economy, so they can afford a garage.

Clearly they should have added another level last time they added onto the garage as well...

[Red Arrow]

Just saw TUL post that the garages are basically full and economy is filling up quick. They are asking people who are flying out of TUL to get to the airport by means other than parking at TUL for the next few days.

Does that include Fine Parking or is it just the parking provided by the airport? 

It's all expensive.  Before I retired, my employer would pay for a taxi rather than parking if someone was gone for more than just a few days.

[LandArchPoke]

Does that include Fine Parking or is it just the parking provided by the airport? 

It's all expensive.  Before I retired, my employer would pay for a taxi rather than parking if someone was gone for more than just a few days.

Last time I flew out of TUL summer last year both were full. I miss my flight because of it and people were parking illegally within the parking structure. It took me nearly 30 minutes to get lucky enough for someone to leave and there were a dozen cars circling the garage. That's post expansion of the garage. It really needs to be about twice the size at least. Next time I go I'm just going to valet it so that doesn't happen again. I don't like to leave my car uncovered though especially in the summer time and not sure where the valet parks if it's covered or not.

The only reason traffic hasn't been growing as much is just the limited destinations - we still need more west coast connections and would be nice to see a couple Canada or Mexico/Caribbean locations added when the new international gate is open. KC's new airport is adding international flights so I can't see why TUL wouldn't be able to add several once that's done. Central location between OKC and NWA, you'd get plenty of people to drive here from those areas if they could fly direct to Cancun and other places and not have to deal with O'Hare, Miami, Atlanta, DFW, etc.

[swake]

Last time I flew out of TUL summer last year both were full. I miss my flight because of it and people were parking illegally within the parking structure. It took me nearly 30 minutes to get lucky enough for someone to leave and there were a dozen cars circling the garage. That's post expansion of the garage. It really needs to be about twice the size at least. Next time I go I'm just going to valet it so that doesn't happen again. I don't like to leave my car uncovered though especially in the summer time and not sure where the valet parks if it's covered or not.

The only reason traffic hasn't been growing as much is just the limited destinations - we still need more west coast connections and would be nice to see a couple Canada or Mexico/Caribbean locations added when the new international gate is open. KC's new airport is adding international flights so I can't see why TUL wouldn't be able to add several once that's done. Central location between OKC and NWA, you'd get plenty of people to drive here from those areas if they could fly direct to Cancun and other places and not have to deal with O'Hare, Miami, Atlanta, DFW, etc.

You can valet at Fine and choose covered or not. And get your car detailed if you want.

[LandArchPoke]

You can valet at Fine and choose covered or not. And get your car detailed if you want.

I do like Fine and up until the last time I flew out I've never had a problem using it as back up if the garage by the terminal is full. I prefer to be able to just walk to my car when I'm back.

Fine was even full and the only thing they had open were surface/uncovered spaces.

The airport just added on to the garage, I don't know why they didn't add more to it. It does seem the crunch time is any flights around the 10am - 2pm mark for parking wise. I have always been able to find a space in either within a few minutes up until recently if I'm flying out mid day. The later in the evening or early morning it's usually not an issue ever.  

The airport trust in their annual review noted it was an issue in 2022 that the garage even post addition has been operating over capacity.

[ComeOnBenjals]

Anecdotally (although I think the stats back me up), TUL has gotten significantly busier over the last year. I can no longer show up 30 minutes before my departure