Blue skies are ahead for BWI airport. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on Wednesday announced its busiest first half of the year ever. More than 10.9 million passengers passed through the airport’s gates in the past six months — a 5.3 increase from last year.
The record is just one of many being shattered by the Maryland airport. BWI celebrated its busiest June on the books with more than 2.1 million passengers passing through the airport’s gates, up 2 percent from last year.
The airport is now expected to beat last year’s total of 21.9 million passengers with a projected 22.5 million, according to BWI officials.
| Flying high | ||||||
| Passengers at the Washingto-area airports: | ||||||
| Month | Dulles | Reagan | BWI | |||
| June | 2,131,080, -2.9% | 1,702,388, +4.5% | Over 2.13 million, 5.5+% | |||
| May | 2,084,352, -0.4% | 1,743,876, +8.1% | 2,078,548, +6.8% | |||
| April | 1,954,411, -0.3% | 1,638,472, +2.9% | 1,899,305, +3.1% | |||
| March | 1,933,687, -2.8% | 1,640,947, +3.3% | 1,882,404 +3.3% | |||
| Feb | 1,532,044, +13.6% | 1,253,227, +22.2% | 1,404,820 +17.3% | |||
Southwest Airlines, the biggest carrier at BWI, offered a record-setting average of 195 departures each day in June, a 6.7 percent increase since last year. The low-cost airline’s customers made up more than half, or 1.2 million, of the airport’s passengers that month.
Broken records are not the only signs of success at the airport. New retailers are filling up spaces along concourses.
Airspace Lounge, a club open to travelers with the purchase of a day pass, opened in March, choosing BWI for its first location.
The new retailers are turning customers to BWI instead of its two competitors in Virginia.
“It’s easy to go to D.C. from BWI,” airport critic Harriet Baskas said. “People do balance the amenities if airfare is similar or the same.”
Last month, BWI added a Jamba Juice and a spa, Be.Relax, in an effort to attract health-conscious passengers.
The new spa, Barkas said, is a sign of BWI’s growing popularity. “Unless an airport is doing well, they can’t get or keep one of those.”
At nearby Washington Dulles International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, business is slower.
Reagan served 1.7 million passengers in June, a 4.5 percent increase over last year.
A modest economic recovery and new airlines, like Sun Country and JetBlue, are increasing traffic at Reagan National, said Rob Yingling, spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which manages the two airports.
But monthly numbers are down at Dulles, with a 2.9 percent decrease in June over the same month last year.
An increase in international travel at Dulles in June, up 3 percent from last year, is a bright spot for the airport, Yingling said.
This summer, the airport added daily flights to Paris on the AirBus A380, a double-decker plane that seats 500.
