Record traffic volumes at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

The growth of the Seattle region continues to be reflected at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) as passenger volumes reached record levels in 2024, breaking pre-pandemic marks, and forecasts predict that 2025 volumes will be even higher.

“SEA Airport is one of the economic engines of the region, and the numbers show we’re back to where we were before the pandemic and even stronger,” enthused airport managing director, Lance Lyttle.

“The investments we’ve made and continue to make at SEA are vital to improving the customer experience. We appreciate the patience of our travelers, plus all of the hard work and efforts from Port staff and airport stakeholders to reach this point and continue getting better.”

There is still more to do with nearly $5 billion in Upgrade SEA improvements in the next five years, with the aim to reach major completion to key projects ahead of 2026 World Cup events.

In 2024, the addition of lanes to the security checkpoints resulted in 94% of travellers getting through security checkpoints in 30 minutes or less for the entire year.

The numbers

• As expected, the 2024 traffic volumes exceeded SEA’s prior record year of 2019, with a total of 52.6 million passengers (+3%) passing through the gateway last year.

• SEA exceeded monthly passenger totals in seven separate months: February (3,387,014), May (4,653,104), June (5,100,277), July (5,483,028), August (5,431,523), September (4,739,810), and October (4,415,165).

• The forecast for 2025 shows a 2% increase in passenger traffic, rising to 53.5 million annual passengers.

• International traffic was 6,588,580, 15% higher than 2019, despite a limited return of China services lost during the pandemic.

• Outbound travel to Europe in 2024 was 27% above 2019, with volumes to Mexico up 101%.

International travel services

SEA saw a record of eight new international services debut in 2024. Total international services has surpassed the pre-pandemic count, now with 53 non-stop international services to 35 nonstop destinations via 28 airlines.

The eight new international services included STARLUX Airlines, China Airlines, and Delta Air Lines’ services to Taipei; Lufthansa’s service to Munich; Hainan Airlines’ service to Chongqing; Alaska Airlines’ service to Toronto and Liberia, Costa Rica; and Philippine Airlines’ service to Manilla.

Already SEA has five new services announced for 2025 – WestJet to Kelowna, Alaska to Tokyo and Seoul, Edelweiss to Zurich, and SAS to Copenhagen.

Cargo and logistics