Aviation Press Releases

October 7, 2011

PHX Sky Harbor’s Friendliness is Paying Off

Phoenix, AZ – Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, America’s Friendliest Airport®, is continuing to show sustained passenger and cargo growth, despite an unstable global aviation market.

“This is the twelfth straight month of increased passenger activity at Sky Harbor. In these incredibly volatile times, we’ve continued to grow,” says Airport Director, Danny Murphy.

The airport released its monthly numbers today and showed almost 9% growth in passengers for August, a particularly active month for the Phoenix airport. This leap parallels July’s jump of 9.2% more passengers and June’s rise of 6.3% more passengers, all year over year. Between January and August of this year, Sky Harbor welcomed more than 27 million passengers, an increase of 6.1% over the same time period last year.

July and August are typically some of the busiest months at Sky Harbor, with locals escaping the summer heat and visitors taking advantage of hotel deals.

“August results indicate another strong month for Sky Harbor,” Murphy added. “This trend is similar to and even higher than many major U.S. airports. However The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported recently that the industry is ‘shifting gears downward’, so while we’re pleased with the result for August we are cautiously optimistic as we move forward into the fall and winter of 2011."