Nantucket Airport Passengers Up In 2024 Over Prior Year

While the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) official numbers won't be released until later this year, the Nantucket Memorial Airport records show an 11 percent increase in commercial passengers in the 2024 calendar year – with 149,176 passengers utilizing the island airport compared to 133,915 in 2023.

The nearly 150,000 passengers is nearly double the 81,666 passengers flying to and from Martha’s Vineyard Airport in 2024, which the Vineyard Gazette reported is a new record for that island. Still, the numbers for both transportation hubs pale in comparison to the heyday for Nantucket Memorial Airport 25 years ago, when a record 302,161 passengers were recorded in 2000.

Airport manager Noah Karberg told the Current that the FAA’s formal count of passengers is typically consistent with Nantucket airport records. He said that while the FAA database showed a one percent increase in aircraft operations (55,872) last year from 2023, Nantucket operations are at a historically low number due to a more efficient system that has more people flying on fewer, but larger, aircraft.

“This leads to a smaller noise and environmental footprint,” Karberg added.

Karberg stated that the 11 percent increase can be attributed to growth in three airlines: Cape Air, American Airlines, and JetBlue.

Cape Air saw a 44 percent increase in passengers, including an additional 4,006 on the Hyannis route and 2,766 on the Boston route.

“Cape Air continues to provide year-round connectivity to the mainland and national air transport network,” Karberg said. “The role for small, nine-seat air carriers remains important for right-sizing off-season air service.”

American Airlines saw a 28 percent increase in passengers thanks to its new LaGuardia flight, which accommodated 3,555 passengers, as well as 775 more passengers on the Virginia route (just five miles from Washington D.C.).

JetBlue saw a 24 percent increase in passengers thanks to an additional 4,121 passengers taking the Boston route, 3,982 on the Virginia route, and 2,758 passengers on the Westchester, New York route. Karberg said there were some losses in its LaGuardia route. 

The decline in JetBlue's LaGuardia route is likely due to the addition of American's LaGuardia flight, which was stopped in 2023 due to the partnership it made with JetBlue through the so-called "Northeast Alliance," in which the two airlines would codeshare flights. Following a federal judge's ruling in May that the partnership hindered competition, the alliance came to an end, and each airline operated their own flights from LaGuardia to Nantucket.

While the operations and passengers aren’t nearly as high as in years past, recent summers have forced the airport’s hand. In 2023, the airport was pushed to its limit, in what Karberg said at the time was the “busiest 24-hour arrival stretch ever” for the airport.

The airport has also needed to shut down its fuel farm at times and issue temporary runway closures, in large part due to the size, not number, of aircraft using the airport nowadays.

The airport also saw a record number of commercial passengers depart Nantucket after the Fourth of July.