BWI Airport saw record number of passengers in 2016

WASHINGTON — BWI Marshall Airport had a record year for passengers, with more than 25.1 million passengers using the airport in 2016.

It was 1.3 million more passengers than BWI’s record 2015.

BWI had monthly records for each month during 2016, and has broken monthly passenger records for 18 consecutive months. The airport’s international passenger traffic topped 1.2 million last year, also a record. 2016 was also the second straight year with more than one million international passengers.

BWI’s international passenger count has been growing by double digits, prompting the need for terminal expansion at the airport, though Dulles International still operates by far the most international flights in the region.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has not released 2016 numbers for Reagan National or Dulles yet, but a spokesman said the airports authority’s latest guidance indicates 2016 will be the sixth consecutive record year for passenger volume at Reagan National.

Dulles is on track for the 13th consecutive year for record international travel, and its domestic passengers, which had been on the decline for the past several years, will likely post modest growth for the second consecutive year.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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