Top 50 US Metros ranked by average daily airport O&D traffic.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by plinko

Total what? LAX alone serves 68M pax a year. What is this a measure of?

O&D traffic in the first six months of 2009

[Buckeye Native 001]

Originally Posted by Gordo

That, and unlike on the East Coast, Southwest flies into every major airport on the West Coast. I never fly them for coast-to-coast business travel, but they're usually most convenient for the quick Bay Area to LA or Seattle or Phoenix or Salt Lake City or Vegas or Portland trips, just because you have so many choices on departure times. It's nice to book a flight and know that if you finish a couple hours early you can just head to the airport and catch an earlier flight. The frequent flier upgrades to business/first class don't much matter on flights that are just an hour or ninety minutes (to me at least).

Yeah, I forgot about how many flights are offered at any given time around the West Coast on Southwest, and like you said, at an hour to 90 minutes depending on the location, business class isn't usually as important.

[Cirrus]

It's the 2nd column of the table, with the rows reordered accordingly.

[202_Cyclist]

Plinko--

Total what? LAX alone serves 68M pax a year. What is this a measure of?

This figure you mentioned is total passengers (arrivals and departures). The numbers in the tables provided are enplanements (departures and connecting passengers). Enplanments is what FAA uses for planning and forecasting. You can get the number of enplanements for specific airports from the annual Terminal Area Forecast (TAF): http://aspm.faa.gov/main/taf.asp

[plinko]

Ack. Perhaps I should learn to read...

[SouthmoreAve]

Originally Posted by Rail Claimore

That's very interesting. I've always wondered if residents of certain metro areas had more of a propensity to fly than others, and what the correlation is with demographics factors such as income levels, access to other modes of transportation, and proximity to other population centers.

It amazes me that despite all the people who transfer in Atlanta, it's still a very large O&D market compared to many of its peers of similar or larger size.

Well what's the next closest airport similar to the size of ATL's airport with similar amenities and services, that also has at least a majority of the destinations ATL serves? Theres not even one half as good as Hartsfield-Jackson in the state!

Take for example Houston, an even bigger airport exists just 4-5 hours up the road. (But there are some destinations that IAH serves that DFW doesnt)
Orlando has Miami, and vice versa. Simply put, ATL has no competition so it still can maintain a large O&D. Atlanta's airport size and stature doesnt impress me much, given its location and geography as an advantage. And the world's largest airport barely making the top 10 O&D market, in its own nation really doesnt sound that amazing. Still great, just not amazing. And im not bashing ATL, just pointing some things out.

[blade_bltz]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

I've flown into Manchester as a Logan alternative, but my final destination was Lowell, which is a lot closer to Manchester than Boston anyway. A lot of people use Manchester and Providence if they live near or outside the 495 loop, but I doubt very many people who actually want to go to *Boston* use either of those alternatives.

Shockingly, Lowell is just about equidistant from Boston and Manchvegas (25 miles, geographically)

(but yeah, the traffic from MHT to Lowell has got to be friendlier than BOS-Lowell, which is a further convenience factor)

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

I've flown into Manchester as a Logan alternative, but my final destination was Lowell, which is a lot closer to Manchester than Boston anyway. A lot of people use Manchester and Providence if they live near or outside the 495 loop, but I doubt very many people who actually want to go to *Boston* use either of those alternatives.

BWI, on the other hand, gets as many people going to downtown Washington as Dulles. BWI is 30 miles from downtown Washington; Dulles is 27.

Anyway, it's not like the modified lists I posted are official. If you want to know what they'd look like with a different set of combinations, please feel free to modify them yourself.

Manchester was a wonderful small airport, at least back in mid 1994-late 1996 when I lived there!

Aaron (Glowrock)

[cabasse]

Originally Posted by SouthmoreAve

Well what's the next closest airport similar to the size of ATL's airport with similar amenities and services, that also has at least a majority of the destinations ATL serves? Theres not even one half as good as Hartsfield-Jackson in the state!

charlotte is less than 4 hrs away and has substantial numbers especially considering its size. (totals, not necessarily o&d) fwiw (if anything) nashville, birmingham, are also a few hours away. south ga is pretty sparsely populated anyway...

[ColDayMan]

Originally Posted by glowrock

Manchester was a wonderful small airport, at least back in mid 1994-late 1996 when I lived there!

Aaron (Glowrock)

Says the man dissing the Birthplace of Aviation's airport.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

I've flown into Manchester as a Logan alternative, but my final destination was Lowell, which is a lot closer to Manchester than Boston anyway. A lot of people use Manchester and Providence if they live near or outside the 495 loop, but I doubt very many people who actually want to go to *Boston* use either of those alternatives.

That's about right. My family lives in Foxboro, which is at the 95/495 interchange, and they almost always use TF Green instead of Logan. North Shore relatives use Manchester often as well. But if you're traveling to Boston for business from somewhere outside of New England, then I doubt you'd consider either Providence or Manchester as realistic alternatives.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by ColDayMan

Says the man dissing the Birthplace of Aviation's airport.

Damn ColDayMan, you never do forget, do you?

Aaron (Glowrock)

[LosAngelesBeauty]

Does "Daily O/D" mean landings? What is the difference between "Total" and "Total O/D" ? Can someone please explain...

[emathias]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

Does "Daily O/D" mean landings? What is the difference between "Total" and "Total O/D" ? Can someone please explain...

"Total O/D" are all passengers who start their travel or end their travel at that airport - it does NOT count passengers who merely have a connection in an airport.

"Total" means anyone who lands or takes off from the airport, even if they just have a connection and don't actually do anything outside the airport.

The numbers are fairly accurate, although they will miss-categorize a few people who have booked overly complicated connections, and probably miss people who manage to book a flight with a connection that involves two airports in a city. For example, you can book a flight from Chicago to Milan that connects in New York but uses Laguardia for the domestic flight and Kennedy for the international. It's annoying, and I don't know if the numbers catch that, but it can be bought as a single flight on American.

[SlidellWx]

For those wanting to add Manchester into the Boston stats, so you can see what it would be like for the CSA. Here are the numbers. Definitely an airport influenced by the Boston market.

Average Daily O&D
7,798

Total Passengers at MHT through June
1,601,399

Total O&D Passenger at MHT through June
1,411,438

% O&D compared to total
88.1

[L41A]

Originally Posted by SouthmoreAve

Well what's the next closest airport similar to the size of ATL's airport with similar amenities and services, that also has at least a majority of the destinations ATL serves?

I would say Chicago's O'Hare is the closest airport in size (based on passengers/movements) to ATL. Just as ATL is the closest airport to O'Hare and as ATL is the closest to Dallas (DFW) when taking into consideration your stated criteria.

The point basis of your question doesn't make that much sense. If you look at 5-10 busiest US airports by either passengers or movements, it easily recognizable that there is significant distance between them. How much sense would it make to have the nation's three busiest (Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson and Chicago's O'Hare and LAX) in close proximity? It seems to me that you are really going out of your way to do what you say you are not trying to do - bash ATL.

What you suggest contradicts the noted O&D numbers for ATL that RailClaimore found interesting. No one drives 3-4 hours just to use ATL as their origin or destination. It's more logical that they would use the nearest airport to ATL as their origin or destination and use ATL as a transfer point. Most folks in South Georgia (2-3 hours south of ATL) are not coming up to ATL to fly to DC for example. They are flying from Jacksonville, Savannah or Tallahassee and maybe transferring in ATL which wouldn't count toward ATL's O&D.

And if you are in any other direction (North, East, or West) of ATL, the options are greater and your chances of using ATL at all (especially as O&D) is smaller. Birmingham (2 hours west from Downtown Atlanta) is a hub for Southwest Airlines which doesn't fly into ATL. And Charlotte (which is a hub for USAirways) is 3.5 hours northeast from Downtown Atlanta. Furthermore, travelers from Greenville, SC area (which sits between Atlanta and Charlotte) if not using GSP International are more apt to use CLT as an O&D than ATL. And then there is Nashville which is 4 hours northwest from Downtown Atlanta with American Airlines hub. Folks especially on the northside of metro Atlanta (from 1-2 hours from Downtown Atlanta) maybe more apt to use one of mentioned airports than come to the southside of Atlanta metro (which is where ATL is) and travel through the city of Atlanta just to use ATL.

Originally Posted by SouthmoreAve

Theres not even one half as good as Hartsfield-Jackson in the state!

Puhlease! How many airports are like O'Hare in Illinois or DFW in Texas or Stapleton in Colorado, etc? Furthermore, if Georgia was the size of Texas, it could be comprised of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee and still wouldn't be as large as Texas and have a lot more airports.

Originally Posted by SouthmoreAve

Take for example Houston, an even bigger airport exists just 4-5 hours up the road. (But there are some destinations that IAH serves that DFW doesnt)
Orlando has Miami, and vice versa. Simply put, ATL has no competition so it still can maintain a large O&D. Atlanta's airport size and stature doesnt impress me much, given its location and geography as an advantage. And the world's largest airport barely making the top 10 O&D market, in its own nation really doesnt sound that amazing. Still great, just not amazing. And im not bashing ATL, just pointing some things out.

Not a really good example for your non "bashing" and your "pointing some things out" of ATL. Charlotte (CLT) is approximately 4 hours away from ATL and is just as big/busy as Houston's IAH. By the way, Orlando is 4 hours or so from Miami. Furthermore, unless you are already in Florida or staying for an extended time, most people are more apt to fly there than drive.

What I think RailClaimore was saying and what I agree with is that ATL is considered by many to be dominated by transfers and that he was surprised by the O&D numbers based on that notion. Also, taking into consideration that Atlanta is not considered by the American mainstream as a major tourist destination (like Orlando, Miami, Las Vegas, etc), the O&D numbers for ATL were interesting if not somewhat surprising. No one mentioned ATL as being the world's "largest" in this thread until you did. In fact, I don't know if anyone ever has mentioned ATL as the being the largest, busiest maybe but never the largest.

[ColDayMan]

Originally Posted by glowrock

Damn ColDayMan, you never do forget, do you?

Aaron (Glowrock)

I never forget. Ever.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

Originally Posted by emathias

"Total O/D" are all passengers who start their travel or end their travel at that airport - it does NOT count passengers who merely have a connection in an airport.

"Total" means anyone who lands or takes off from the airport, even if they just have a connection and don't actually do anything outside the airport.

The numbers are fairly accurate, although they will miss-categorize a few people who have booked overly complicated connections, and probably miss people who manage to book a flight with a connection that involves two airports in a city. For example, you can book a flight from Chicago to Milan that connects in New York but uses Laguardia for the domestic flight and Kennedy for the international. It's annoying, and I don't know if the numbers catch that, but it can be bought as a single flight on American.

That clears it up nicely for me. Thank you emathias!

[Cirrus]

OK, so thanks to SlidellWx we know the combined numbers for Boston+Providence+Manchester are:

Boston Area    63,088	15,838,375	11,418,928	72.10%

Which would be good enough for 9th:

Metro          Daily O&D      total     total O&D    O&D %  # of Airports
New York	 127,801   51,883,694   23,131,981  44.60%  6 airports
LA Area		 119,346   38,092,034	21,601,626  56.70%  6 airports <-----
DC Area		 91,733	   29,917,661	16,603,673  55.50%  3 airports <-----
SF Area		 87,419	   26,179,300	15,822,839  60.44%  3 airports <-----
Chicago	         86,821    39,281,585   15,714,601  40.00%  2 airports
Miami	         79,636    31,262,044   14,414,116  46.10%  3 airports
Las Vegas        73,138    20,224,090   13,237,978  65.50%	
Orlando          68,040    18,211,975   12,315,240  67.60%  2 airports
Boston Area   	 63,088	   15,838,375	11,418,928  72.10%  3 airports <-----
Dallas/Ft.Worth  59,577    31,149,065   10,783,437  34.60%  2 airports
Atlanta	         56,645    43,008,154	10,252,745  23.80%	
Phoenix	         54,040    18,968,897	 9,781,240  51.60%	
Denver	         53,747    24,337,554	 9,728,207  40.00%	
Seattle	         43,376    14,787,443	 7,851,056  53.10%	
Philadelphia     41,860    14,878,298    7,576,660  50.90%	
Houston	         39,021    23,606,848    7,062,801  29.90%  2 airports
Tampa	         38,865     8,888,162	 7,034,565  79.20%

[Cirrus]

... And just so everyone is happy, here's what happens if we add Milwaukee to Chicago:

Metro          Daily O&D      total     total O&D    O&D %  # of Airports
New York	 127,801   51,883,694   23,131,981  44.60%  6 airports
LA Area		 119,346   38,092,034	21,601,626  56.70%  6 airports <-----
Chicago Area	 99,362	   42,841,809	17,984,522  41.90%  3 airports <-----
DC Area		 91,733	   29,917,661	16,603,673  55.50%  3 airports <-----
SF Area		 87,419	   26,179,300	15,822,839  60.44%  3 airports <-----
Miami	         79,636    31,262,044   14,414,116  46.10%  3 airports
Las Vegas        73,138    20,224,090   13,237,978  65.50%	
Orlando          68,040    18,211,975   12,315,240  67.60%  2 airports
Boston Area   	 63,088	   15,838,375	11,418,928  72.10%  3 airports <-----
Dallas/Ft.Worth  59,577    31,149,065   10,783,437  34.60%  2 airports

... Although at that point we might start talking about adding Sacramento to San Francisco and Richmond to DC, in which case:

Metro          Daily O&D      total     total O&D    O&D %  # of Airports
New York	 127,801   51,883,694   23,131,981  44.60%  6 airports
LA Area		 119,346   38,092,034	21,601,626  56.70%  6 airports <-----
SF Area	+	 107,594   30,535,574	19,474,514  	    4 airports <-----
Chicago Area	 99,362	   42,841,809	17,984,522  41.90%  3 airports <-----
DC Area +	 98,350	   31,526,619	17,801,350	    4 airports <-----