Salt Lake City International Airport set to break annual visitor record later this year

The Salt Lake City International Airport. Photo: TownLift

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) surpassed its record of the total number of passengers in a 12-month fiscal year period, and is now set to break the record for total number of passengers in a calendar year.

During the 2022-23 Fiscal Year from July 2022 through June 2023, SLC saw 26,421,401 total passengers, compared to the previous high of 26,203,976 in 2019.

SLC’s record number of passengers in a 12-month period is 26,808,014 during the 2019 calendar year, a milestone officials say they expect to cross by the end of 2023.

“We are on track to a full recovery from the pandemic,” said Bill Wyatt, executive director of the Salt Lake City Department of Airports. “At the height of the pandemic a couple of years ago it didn’t seem possible. To see domestic travel rebound so quickly is remarkable, but to see international travel up by double digits is astounding.”

SLC also saw a drastic jump in international travelers during the 2023 Fiscal Year, up from 1,085,640 in the 2019 Fiscal Year to 1,327,241, a 22% increase.

According to a press release from the airport, this increase can be attributed to pent-up demand from passengers wanting to fly to Europe post-pandemic. In response, Delta increased nonstop service between SLC and London from seasonal to annually, and Eurowings Discover began to offer seasonal nonstop service to Frankfurt, Germany in May 2022.

SLC is the 22nd busiest airport in North America, and the 60th busiest in the world. The former SLC airport, which was designed to accommodate 10 million passengers, closed in fall 2020 and a new airport, designed to accommodate 34 million passengers when completed, is currently under construction.

SLC is currently undergoing a $5.1 billion redevelopment program. The remaining gates of Phase 2 are set to begin operating on October 31, 2023, Phase 3 is slated to open in the fall of 2024, and the final Phase 4 is set to open in late 2026.