Columbia Metropolitan Airport sets May passenger record

Columbia Metropolitan Airport recorded the busiest May in its history, with 65,411 passengers traveling through the airport during the month.

The total surpassed the previous May record of 63,522 passengers, set in 2005, according to a news release from the airport.

Passenger traffic also increased 4% compared with May 2025, when 62,800 travelers used the airport. Through the first five months of 2026, passenger traffic was up 5.52% over the same period last year.

Airport officials attributed the growth to increased demand from Midlands travelers and expanded service from airline partners.

“With more Midlands residents opting to fly local, our airline partners are positively responding to this demand by increasing seat capacity in the market and increasing the aircraft size for certain routes,” Kim Crafton, Columbia Metropolitan Airport’s vice president of marketing and air service development, said in the release.

In the coming weeks, the airport will offer five daily nonstop flights to Chicago O’Hare International Airport through American Airlines and United Airlines. The airport also offers seasonal nonstop service to Miami on American Airlines and daily nonstop service to Newark on United Airlines.

American Airlines also plans to increase capacity on its Dallas/Fort Worth route in August and September by upgrading to an Airbus A319 aircraft featuring first-class seating, Wi-Fi, powered seats and in-flight entertainment.

“This continued air service growth provides more options for the traveling community to utilize their local airport, and the more they do, the more air service we’ll continue to see,” Crafton said.

Columbia Metropolitan Airport currently offers more than 30 daily flights with nonstop service to 10 major airports in nine cities, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, New York City, Newark, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The airport served more than 1.3 million passengers in 2025.