Tri-Cities-Pasco Airport Breaks Another Traveler’s Record in 2023

Over the last decade, the Pasco-Tri-Cities Airport (PSC) has been steadily growing and expanding, and now another record has been broken. (image courtesy of Tri-Cities Airport-MGV Photography).

   2023 saw the busiest year ever for passenger travel

According to information supplied by the airport, 872,578 passengers traveled through the airport, making it the busiest on record.

This total breaks the old record of 870,890, which was set in 2019. The record was broken by nearly 2,000 passengers.

Airport officials credit their airline partners for the increase. Due to expanded demand and growth, Alaska and Allegiant Airlines began to expand the size of the planes serving the Tri-Cities, utilizing larger 737 planes carrying more passengers.

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There were also expanded numbers of flights, and destination cities where people could fly to from Pasco.  According to information provided by Airport Director Buck Taft:

 "Airlines count their passengers in terms of enplanements, or the number of people who board an aircraft at an airport. The number of people arriving is considered deplanements; the sum of both numbers is the airport’s total passenger number. In 2023, the airport saw 437,200 enplanements, slightly below 2019 numbers but a 12% increase compared to the 356,759 enplanements recorded for 2022. The busiest month of 2023 was July, which saw 41,719 enplanements, also a new record for the airport."

  According to additional figures from the airport, the overall number of passengers utilizing Pasco has increased by 12 percent since 2018. These figures also show significant rebounding from large drops in 2020 due to COVID restrictions.