May 2025 | Vanessa Caceres
Northeast Florida’s biggest airports are seeing record growth, thanks to ramped-up tourism and more people moving to the state.
In 2024, 7.6 million passengers flew through Jacksonville International Airport — the most ever in the airport’s history. That’s a 2.8% increase over its 2023 total.
“It helps to be in Florida,” says Mark VanLoh, CEO of the Jacksonville Airport Authority. He cites a bump since the COVID-19 pandemic allowed many people to work remotely, leading to more Florida residents.
“A lot of other Florida cities along the coast have tourism. We not only have tourism because we have beaches here, but we also have an incredible business climate."
Gainesville Regional Airport set a record for 2024 passenger traffic, with a total of 578,175 travelers. That was a 3.56% increase over the airport’s 2019 passenger number.
The boarding number for 2024 outpaces both area population growth and Federal Aviation Administration forecasts.
More people are moving to Florida, says Allan Penksa, CEO of the Gainesville Alachua County Regional Airport Authority. Yet there’s another factor at play. “Our surrounding airports are very competitive and have a lot of direct flights, but they’re becoming less attractive because of traffic and congestion at those airports,” he says.
Because a smaller airport like Gainesville can’t always compete on price against the bigger players, it focuses on a better passenger experience, Penksa says.
“We’ve got pretty decent service to four hubs [Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas and Miami], and those hubs have one stop to hundreds of destinations worldwide,” Penksa says.
The Gainesville airport has stepped up marketing both locally and in other areas where it flies, so people know they have options beyond bigger airports.
For Jacksonville, upstart carriers offering direct service to mid-sized cities in the Midwest, like Akron, Ohio, or Grand Rapids, Michigan, are an advantage.