Charlotte airport shatters another record in 2024 with close to 60 million passengers
Charlotte’s airport broke records last year with 58.8 million passengers on flights, CLT announced Thursday.
This is a 10% increase from 2023’s total of 53.4 million, according to Charlotte Douglas International Airport. CLT has set records in five of the last eight years, with the COVID years of 2020 and 2022 being the only exceptions for arriving and departing passengers.
Approximately 70% of the passengers used CLT for connecting flights, according to the airport.
Here are some other 2024 facts released by the airport.
More International passengers
CLT had 2.4 million international passengers last year — a 13% increase from 2.1 million in 2023.
Customers have more than 40 choices for international destinations. Companies such as American Airlines and Frontier Airlines added new routes in recent years.
Operations increase
Aircraft operations had a double-digit rise in 2024, according to Charlotte Douglas. Movements grew 11%, reaching 596,583 arrivals and departures. That’s up from 539,066 the previous year.
The busiest days
Foot traffic at Charlotte Douglas had a constant growth last year, with 23 of the 25 busiest days on record, according to the airport.
CLT broke another all-time record on May 16 for single-day local passenger count. The Transportation Security Administration screened 45,304 passengers that day.
The top three busiest travel days for total passengers on record are May 24, Oct. 20 and Dec. 1.
Construction at the Charlotte airport
Airport Chief Executive Officer Haley Gentry, in a statement, said CLT is one of busiest and most efficient airports in the world.
To keep up with the region’s growth and growth in more passengers, Charlotte Douglas made investments through its Destination CLT plan to upgrade the airport. The total cost of the capital investments are $4 billion.
For this year, the airport is scheduled to finish its Terminal Lobby Expansion project, which started in 2019. The project added 175,000 square feet to the lobby and renovated 191,000 square feet of existing space, according to the airport.
Another TSA checkpoint is set to open around spring break.
Work is underway to renovate Concourses D and E. This includes upgrades to restrooms and flooring. The airport is expected to complete Concourse D renovations by fall 2026 and spring 2027 for Concourse E.
For airfield operations, Charlotte Douglas commissioned its North End Around Taxiway project in January. Construction for the $253-million project began in April 2021.
CLT is also working on a fourth parallel project, which is in the early stages. The $1 billion project is scheduled to open in fall 2027.
About CLT
CLT is the seventh busiest airport in the world for arrivals and departures, according to Airports Council International. Most of those flights are provided by American Airlines.
Charlotte Douglas is the second largest hub for the Fort Worth, Texas-based company and accounts for about 90% of all flights out of the airport.
This story was originally published February 6, 2025 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Charlotte airport shatters another record in 2024 with close to 60 million passengers."
