June to August 2023 just one percent below summer 2019

SEATTLE – Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) saw a total of 15.3 million travel through the airport from June to August 2023.

The busy summer included the busiest day ever in the history of SEA on July 24, when 73,651 outbound travelers passed through security screening and a total of more than 198,000 travelers (departing, arriving, and connecting) passed through the airport. The previous record was 72,154 on August 16, 2019. To put this summer into context, SEA was the equivalent of the fifth-largest city in the state with 166,000 travelers each day arriving, connecting, or departing through the airport.

Then five days later, on July 29, the airport set a record for the busiest day of international travel ever at SEA, with 8,512 passengers going through customs at the International Arrivals Facility, beating the previous record from July 16, 2023, of 8,472.

“The high demand for travel shows our guests soaked up every opportunity to travel this summer,” said Lance Lyttle, managing director, SEA Airport. “We set records in both general passenger volume, but also international travel. Seattle is on the map for guests from around the world. We could do none of this without the hard work of our SEA Airport team, our airline partners, partners at the Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and our airport dining and retail operators. They all went above and beyond to make the guest experience five-star this summer.”