Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) forecasts it will exceed 2019 passenger traffic in 2024 and record its busiest year ever, following up on 2023, when international traffic levels edged over 2019 figures and domestic traffic fell just short of pre-pandemic levels.

Overall, the airport handled 50.9 million passengers in 2023, up 11% over 2022, but down 2% from the 51.8 million passengers handled in 2019. SEA notes 2023 was its second-busiest year ever in terms of passenger traffic. In four separate months (February, September, October and November) in 2023, SEA broke passenger records for the specific month.

“The forecast for 2024 shows a 3% [year-over-year] increase in passenger traffic, rising close to 52 million annual passengers, which would exceed SEA’s largest volume set in 2019,” SEA says in a statement summarizing 2023 statistics.

SEA notes it saw its “busiest day ever for overall passenger traffic with over 198,000 travelers going through the airport on July 24, 2023.”

For the full year, the airport handled 5.8 million international passengers, “at 101% ... of 2019 levels even without the return of most China services lost during the pandemic,” SEA says.

Europe traffic in 2023 was up 21% over 2019 levels, according to SEA. The airport adds that passenger volume on Mexico routes in 2023 was up 91% over 2019 levels.

Alaska Airlines, based in Seattle, is the leading carrier at the airport, operating about half of SEA’s passenger capacity, with Delta Air Lines following as the airport’s second-leading airline.

“We’re forecasting to reach and surpass [2019] traveler volumes in 2024,” SEA MD Lance Lyttle says. “When we think about this in comparison to our first million-passenger year in 1954, it’s pretty incredible to see how far demand for travel at SEA has come.”