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- Salt Lake City International Airport set a new passenger record in 2024, reaching 28.3 million.
- Domestic travel made up 95% of traffic.
- Planned expansions aim for 34 million passengers by the early 2030s, which would trigger more airport construction.
SALT LAKE CITY — Last year was the busiest year on record for Salt Lake City International Airport, shattering all records set the year before.
Over 28.3 million passengers either boarded flights out of or arrived at Utah's largest airport in 2024, a 5.2% increase from the previous record of nearly 27 million passengers in 2023. Domestic travel accounted for about 95% of all airline traffic last year.
Bill Wyatt, airport executive director, attributed some volume growth to additions that have opened in the past year.
Thirteen new gates were opened in October 2023 with the completion of the Concourse A-East project, while nine other gates opened earlier in the year. The airport added five new gates through its first of a few Concourse B expansions that opened in October 2024.
The expansion has attracted more airlines and flights, while travelers were eager to hit the skies last year.
"Utah's dynamic economy, including the growth in visitors and skiers, played a significant role in the increase in passengers last year," Wyatt added in a statement Wednesday. "The addition of new nonstop destinations — thanks to our hub carrier Delta Air Lines — boosted passenger numbers, as did our added gate capacity, which attracted new airlines to Salt Lake City."
Last year's volumes were also 1.5 million above totals counted in 2019 under the last full year of the old Salt Lake City International Airport complex. That was the airport's busiest year until 2023 as the new facility — created to expand options essentially capped by the old building — surpassed the old for the first time.
More growth is coming to the new airport, too. A few more gates are scheduled to open later this year as Concourse B is finished. Its full build-out is on track to be complete by the end of 2026, adding nearly a dozen more gates.
The full layout is designed to handle 34 million passengers. Airport officials have said multiple times that the airport is expected to reach that figure by the early 2030s, which is about the time expansion plans like a third concourse and a tram connecting them all would be triggered.
However, pointing to the disruptions in airline travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, Wyatt cautions that trends can also change. Recessions, pandemics or any other imaginable economic disruptions can alter the airport's success and any possible expansion timelines.
"Passenger volume is really nothing more than a product of economic activity. That's what drives people to travel," he said, during a tour of the future tram space next to the airport's new "river tunnel" in April 2024. "If we have a big slowdown ... that would drive you down and then you'd start building back up again."
