Annual Operations and Passengers

Operations

Year	Air Carrier	% of Total	Air Taxi	General Aviation	Military	Total	% Δ
1963						83989
1964						89373
1965						98690	10.4%
1966						117074	18.6%
1967						144026	23.0%
1968						155558	8.0%
1969						165820	6.6%
1970						150676	-9.1%
1971						155144	3.0%
1972						152344	-1.8%
1973	115445	73.00592546686	17866	22878	1,942	158131	3.8%
1974	106466	66.162469860051	31654	21492	1,304	160916	1.8%
1975	109962	67.148675797971	30896	21888	1,013	163759	1.8%
1976	114998	66.271718772511	31818	25865	844	173525	6.0%
1977	119166	62.710365949923	39143	30835	882	190026	9.5%
1978	119870	61.468327427684	41747	32787	607	195011	2.6%
1979	131647	62.114635136028	45739	33988	568	211942	8.7%
1980	143646	67.520588124694	40681	27876	541	212744	0.4%
1981	141015	67.813604558898	39400	27053	477	207945	-2.3%
1982	138415	65.477260470969	49040	23583	356	211394	1.7%
1983	137920	65.910644052893	48757	22247	329	209253	-1.0
1984	142717	63.761906463892	59824	20878	409	223828	7.0%
1985	158904	67.698809655678	56954	18537	327	234722	4.9%
1986	187870	72.484904604819	54977	16052	286	259185	10.4%
1987	178682	61.376595540045	95337	16750	355	291124	12.3%
1988	176732	56.043304402424	124245	13925	447	315349	8.3%
1989	182460	54.605853833722	139215	12081	384	334140	6.0%
1990	193482	54.545147003685	150376	10556	305	354719	6.2%
1991	186717	55.17201641713	142828	8593	289	338427	-4.6%
1992	196141	56.705522501113	140744	8699	310	345894	2.2%
1993	200040	58.958239387428	131046	7929	276	339291	-1.9%
1994	212016	60.077357929188	132160	8358	371	352905	4.0%
1995	226190	58.530968184347	149444	10244	567	386445	9.5%
1996	239063	60.505582003953	149882	6077	87	395109	2.2%
1997	235445	61.25334630664	143034	5820	80	384379
1998	221705	54.395856488467	180563	5183	126	407577
1999	233914	53.941233171758	194352	5321	59	433646
2000	236355	53.039466272909	203723	5448	95	445621
2001	227589	56.805650887943	168322	4668	66	400645
2002	220733	60.531511717829	139793	4073	59	364658
2003	210603	59.363249429208	140777	3336	54	354770
2004	250605	69.847653767685	105377	2685	121	358788
2005	254829	74.563292583728	83928	67	2,938	341762	-4.80%
2006	253507	74.548165312976	82147	108	4,296	340058	-0.50%
2007	276954	79.803253747342	64745	107	5,240	347046	2.10%
2008	306425	88.806742269894	34453	110	4,059	345047	-0.60%
2009	297621	93.628902108704	17133	73	3,046	317873	-7.90%
2010	292016	93.012352128019	18562	114	3,262	313954	-1.20%
2011	295763	93.90881640403	15327	149	3,708	314947	0.30%
2012	291664	94.207631210897	14196	133	3,604	309597	-1.70%
2013	299156	94.315638142919	14440	80	3,510	317186	2.50%
2014	325425	95.578862657793	10813	127	4,113	340478	7.30%
2015	368722	96.673903011998	8401	125	4,160	381408	12.00%
2016	399742	96.984739306597	9513	93	2,822	412170	8.10%
2017	405049	97.338533706299	8651	86	2,338	416124	1.00%
2018	427170	97.440412782197	8509	87	2,625	438391	5.40%
2019	443817	98.519380137496	4456	79	2,135	450487	2.80%
2020	290130	98.000999837864	3899	171	1,848	296048	-34.30%
2021	368872	98.494566233211	4254	1328	56	374510	20.90%
2022	395997	98.6660055662	3926	1373	55	401351	7.2%
2023	417346	98.778247985837	2781	1308	59	422508	5.27%
2024	428915	98.778247985837	4078	1280	48	434321	2.80%
	12106718		3629848	491423	9847	17186999

Air carrier: Scheduled aircraft operation with over 70 seats
Air Taxi: Scheduled aircraft operation with less than 70 seats
Source: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

Passengers

		Domestic			International		Total Pax	% Δ
	Deplaned	Enplaned	Total Pax	Deplaned	Enplaned	Total Pax
1961			1426508			192759	1619267
1962			1797464			202835	2000299	23.50%
1963			1604195			176338	1780533	-11.00%
1964			1789234			211697	2000931	12.40%
1965			2085836			251865	2337701	16.80%
1966			2539582			282425	2822007	20.70%
1967			3514830			338777	3853607	36.60%
1968			4070198			364580	4434778	15.10%
1969			4423000			381928	4804928	8.30%
1970			4270257			383186	4653443	-3.20%
1971			4319336			378269	4697605	0.90%
1972			4381861			407101	4788962	1.90%
1973			4644053			561040	5205093	8.70%
1974			5137734			634482	5772216	10.90%
1975			5497178			615245	6112423	5.90%
1976			6158045			648703	6806748	11.40%
1977			6646413			686030	7332443	7.70%
1978			7665983			701994	8367977	14.10%
1979			9017605			802814	9820419	17.40%
1980			8247226			947424	9194650	-6.40%
1981			8150623			967007	9117630	-0.80%
1982			8518366			760371	9278737	1.80%
1983			9256036			885701	10141737	9.30%
1984			9468444			1008186	10476630	3.30%
1985			10436161			1030594	11466755	9.50%
1986			12465343			1177323	13642666	19.00%
1987			13180582			1264900	14445482	5.90%
1988			13095487			1400032	14495519	0.30%
1989			13710455			1530803	15241258	5.10%
1990			14399529			1840780	16240309	6.60%
1991			14759181			1554108	16313289	0.40%
1992			16462515			1499702	17962217	10.10%
1993			17393527			1406997	18800524	4.70%
1994			19482971			1489848	20972819	11.60%
1995			21107946			1666040	22773986	8.60%
1996			22511310			1813286	24324596	8.50%
1997			22887340			1842773	24730113	1.67%
1998			23710257			2153209	25863466	4.50%
1999			25270402			2435086	27705488	7.10%
2000			25962051			2446502	28408553	2.50%
2001			24683837			2352236	27036073	-4.80%
2002			24440713			2297845	26738558	-1.10%
2003			24527470			2272443	26799913	0.20%
2004			26368448			2436106	28804554	7.50%
2005	13410018	13407973	26817991	1246871	1224164	2471035	29289026	1.70%
2006	13753511	13764088	27517599	1252266	1226559	2478825	29996424	2.40%
2007	14272440	14313379	28585819	1362147	1347856	2710003	31295822	4.30%
2008	14626611	14647483	29274094	1484978	1437456	2922434	32196528	2.90%
2009	14297596	14296186	28593782	1319718	1314012	2633730	31227512	-3.00%
2010	14381433	14363581	28745014	1398385	1409767	2808152	31553166	1.00%
2011	14924361	14913831	29838192	1501371	1483657	2985028	32823220	4.00%
2012	14992096	14982946	29975042	1633691	1614378	3248069	33223111	1.20%
2013	15643247	15604129	31247376	1807178	1772187	3579365	34826741	4.80%
2014	16851340	16824379	33675719	1930149	1892399	3822548	37498267	7.70%
2015	19016085	18944106	37960191	2215696	2164650	4380346	42340537	12.90%
2016	20485624	20385030	40870654	2455373	2411088	4866461	45737115	8.00%
2017	20942362	20861988	41804350	2576675	2553594	5130269	46934619	2.60%
2018	22221601	22200368	44421969	2733581	2693970	5427551	49849520	6.20%
2019	23085429	23015911	46101340	2869935	2857964	5727899	51829239	4.00%
2020	9315619	9372941	18688560	693023	663765	1356788	20045348	-61.30%
2021	17233386	17251456	34484842	847703	821470	1669173	36154015	80.38%
2022	20801479	20780867	41582346	2196569	2185252	4381821	45964321	27.13%
2023	22587484	22502280	45089764	2918340	2869156	5787496	50877260	10.69%
2024	23034552	23017584	46052136	3316918	3271662	6588580	52640716	3.46%
	345876274	345450506	1202812312	37760567	37215006	123676943	1326489409

*1996 total pax are correct. Domestic and International  pax, derived estimates.

It’s complicated: a brief analysis

Nothing about airports is simple. The Port of Seattle usually focuses on passengers–each representing revenue. People living under the flight path care about operations–which means something quite different. But the relationship between the two is not what most people think.

A second runway was added in 1970. Thirty years later, in 2000, the number of annual operations had almost tripled. Adding a third has increased those numbers by less than two percent.

And yet, since 2000, the number of passengers has doubled. Part of the explanation has to do with fleet mix. Over time, Sea-Tac has shifted from a wide variety of aircraft almost exclusively to large commercial jets.

For air traffic control ‘a blip is just a blip’. Managing this increase feels closer to the two percent than the 100%. For residents, it is the opposite. Despite a relatively small increase in flights, and in spite of industry efforts to create ‘quieter’ aircraft, the change in lived experience is obvious.

Neither metric–passenger counts or annual operations–adequately captures the dramatic change in lived experience.