Philadelphia International Airport Welcomed 25.2 Million Passengers in 2022

Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) welcomed more than 25.2 million passengers during calendar year 2022, an increase of 28.5 percent over 2021.

“We anticipate the pandemic recovery to affect our passenger volume for two more years, but we clearly continue to move in the right direction,” said City of Philadelphia Department of Aviation CEO Atif Saeed. “The increase in passenger volume PHL experienced in 2022 was driven by the return of transatlantic travel. We welcomed guests traveling to destinations like Lisbon, Barcelona and Madrid for the first time in two years in 2022. We look forward to continued flight offerings, domestic and international, by our airline partners in 2023 and beyond.”

In cargo operations PHL handled 625,260.5 tons- a slight decrease from 2022 (2.8 percent), but still up 2.9 percent over 2019.

“The aviation industry has seen increases in cargo tonnage over the last few years due to the rise in e-commerce. However, airports around the globe have recently experienced a decrease in cargo demand due factors such as continued disruptions to supply chains, global economic slowdown, a lack of people resources, and higher than average fuel prices,” said Saeed. “Despite the decrease in volume in 2022, we continue to be encouraged by PHL’s overall cargo growth and remain committed to the airport’s ongoing cargo expansion program, which will have a significant impact on the airport, our region’s workforce and our local economy for many years to come.”

The City of Philadelphia’s Department of Aviation also owns and operates Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE), which saw a year of growth with 95,991 plane movements, a 14.6 percent increase over 2021 and a 21 percent increase over 2019. PNE is a general aviation airport, specializing in private transport and the recreational flying component of aviation, as well as the manufacturing or building process of those aircraft. PNE is the fourth busiest airport in Pennsylvania.

“Our airports’ team, in concert with our stakeholders, has worked extremely hard to overcome the challenges presented by the pandemic,” said Saeed. “We continue to move closer to the record volume we set in 2019- and I am confident that we will surpass that in the near future.”

PHL 2022 Highlights:

Passenger Volume

Total Plane Movements: 284,141 (+5.7% from 2021, -27.2% from 2019)

Domestic Passengers: 22,266,733 (+19.8% from 2021, -23% from 2019)

International Passengers: 2,975,400 (+181% from 2021, -27.1% from 2019)

Total Passengers: 25,242,133 (+28.5% from 2021, -23.6% from 2019)

Cargo Volume

Total Cargo: 625,260.5 tons (-2.8% from 2021, +2.9% from 2019)