NYC Airports Hit Record First-Quarter Passenger Traffic With 32 Million Travelers

Martin Z. Braun, Bloomberg News

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 09: Passengers wait in a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) line at JFK airport on January 09, 2019 in New York City. Its been reported that hundreds of TSA screeners and agents have called in sick from their shifts from a number of major airports as the partial government shutdown continues. Employees of the TSA, whose job it is to keep airlines safe, are being forced to work without knowing when their next paycheck is coming. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) , Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

(Bloomberg) -- If you’ve been stuck in long lines for security checks at New York City-area airports, your fellow travelers could be to blame.

Passenger traffic hit a first quarter record in 2023, with 32 million passengers passing through John F. Kennedy, Newark Liberty International and LaGuardia airports, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey said Monday. That all-time record high is roughly 1 million more passengers than in 2019, when the previous benchmark was set.

The growth was driven by a flood of passengers at Newark and LaGuardia airports which both boast new facilities. Newark’s $2.7 billion Terminal A opened in January and LaGuardia’s $4 billion overhaul of its Delta Air Lines Inc., Terminal C, which was unveiled last year.

Related: Newark Airport’s $2.7 Billion Terminal A Opens to Public

Meanwhile, 28.7 million vehicles crossed the bi-state agency’s four bridges and two tunnels going east, the most since the first three months of 2008, when 29.7 million eastbound vehicles used the crossings.

Ridership on the Port Authority Trans-Hudson or Path system that connects commuter hubs like Hoboken, New Jersey, to downtown Manhattan continues to lag. During the first quarter, ridership was 59% of pre-pandemic volume in 2019.