Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport sets passenger record in 2015

• Southwest Airlines passenger count jumped 9 percent
• American Airlines carried 1 percent more passengers
• Sky Harbor's previous record was 42.18 million passengers, in 2007

A Super Bowl boost, blockbuster spring break and generally strong travel demand combined to send a record number of travelers through Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in 2015.

Passenger counts at the nation's ninth busiest airport rose 4.5 percent, to slightly more than 44 million, according to statistics released Monday.

The previous record, set in 2007 before the recession crushed travel and hit greater Phoenix especially hard, was 42.18 million. The airport narrowly missed a record in 2014, with 42.13 million passengers. The figures include local and connecting passengers, each counted when they depart and arrive.

Sky Harbor's dominant tenants, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, carried more passengers on top of their already huge base. Southwest flew 14 million passengers, up a staggering 9.1 percent from 2014. The airline, which has one of its busiest operations in Phoenix, carried an 1.2 million additional passengers, more than many of Sky Harbor's tenants carry in a year.

American, which merged with Tempe-based US Airways in 2013 and did away with the US Airways brand last fall, saw passenger counts rise 1 percent, to 22.2 million. The merged airline accounts for half of the airport's passenger traffic.

Sky Harbor Assistant Aviation Director Deborah Ostreicher said American's growth shows that concerns the merger would significantly hurt Sky Harbor given American's hubs in nearby Los Angeles and Dallas were overblown.

"We are going strong and holding our own,'' she said.

Sky Harbor didn't have a lot of new flights in 2015. Airlines have been flying bigger planes out of Phoenix or cramming more seats into existing planes. Ostreicher said the average number of seats per departure was 137, up from 127 in 2010.

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"There was a time there for us where it was cut, cut, cut all day long,'' she said.

Sky Harbor struggled during and after the recession, with passenger counts dipping as low as 37.8 million in 2009 due to slumping travel demand and significant flight cutbacks. The airport took longer to recover than many major airports because Arizona's economy took longer to rebound than the national economy.

The strong 2015 numbers mean the recovery is complete from a travel standpoint. The day after the 2015 Super Bowl, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, set a one-day record for passengers at the airport. In March, Sky Harbor set a record for monthly traffic, with 4.25 million passengers flying in for spring break and Major League Baseball spring training and Arizonans heading out on their spring-break getaways. Summer also was strong, with passenger counts up 6.3 percent in the peak month of July.

Last year also was a big year for discount airlines at Sky Harbor, underscoring travelers' love of their low fares, if not their fees. Frontier Airlines, which has been growing rapidly in Phoenix and other cities, carried 531,048 passengers, up 10.2 percent from 2014. The airline is owned by Phoenix-based investment firm Indigo Partners.

Fellow discounter Spirit Airlines carried 295,285 passengers, up 3.6 percent from 2014.

Last year was good for many airports. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest, topped the 100 million passenger mark for the first time. Passenger traffic was up 5.6 percent, to 101.5 million from 96.2 million. Los Angeles International Airport reported a 6 percent increase in passengers, to 74.9 million.

Airlines say bookings for this year look good so far but there are worries about a global economic slowdown and the impact of the Zika virus.

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By the numbers 

These are the top five airlines in Phoenix by total passengers in 2015. The total number of passengers was a record 44,006,206.

American/USAirways: 22,245,748.

Southwest Airlines: 14,061,222.

Delta Air Lines: 2,766,004.

United Airlines: 2,030,373.

Alaska Airlines: 736,737.

Annual passenger counts

Total annual passengers at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport by year.

2007: 42,184,515.

2008: 39,891,193.

2009: 37,824,982.

2010: 38,554,530.

2011: 40,592,295.

2012: 40,448,932.

2013: 40,341,614.

2014: 42,134,662.

2015: 44,006,205.