Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport set a passenger traffic record last year, with a total of 1,620,240 passengers arriving at or departing from the airport.
That’s up about 1 percent from last year, and tops the previous record set in 2008.
“So, we’ve taken about 9 years, or 8 years to get there," City Council member James Clendenin said at a news briefing Thursday.
Eisenhower has 29 percent fewer flights than it did in 2008, and 15 percent fewer seats. Four of the airlines that operated nine years ago don’t exist anymore: AirTran, Continental, Northwest and US Airways.
The city says Alaska Airlines’ new nonstop service to Seattle is mainly responsible for the record year. Delta and American also saw increases in the number of passengers.
Allegiant and United reported decreases, and Southwest Airlines’ traffic was similar to 2016.
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