Charlotte’s airport is projecting it will see nearly 53 million passengers this fiscal year, which ends in June. That's a big number, but the airport is projecting that it won't grow next year. In fact, 53 million is a decrease from two years ago, when the airport saw about 57 million passengers. But airport officials say the growth stall is nothing to worry about. To talk more about it, I’m joined now by The Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter’s Tony Mecia for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: Charlotte Douglas is often seen as the region's most important single economic engine. During a presentation to city council last week, the airport’s chief financial officer, Mike Hill, said having fewer passengers is both good and bad. What did he mean by that?
Tony Mecia: Well, the bad part is that a lot of the airport's revenues are tied to the number of passengers. These are passengers that come and they spend money, he said, on hot dogs and concessions and they park their cars. The good news, though, is that by having fewer passengers, the experience at the airport is a little more pleasant. You might remember a couple of years ago, in 2024, a lot of those concourses were really packed. He said that the airport really couldn't handle approaching 60 million passengers in a year. So that's really the upside to not continuing the growth.
Terry: What’s behind the drop in passenger numbers over the past few years and did Hill say what the plans are to pick them back up?
Mecia: He said it's from everything, from geopolitical tensions to concerns about paying TSA agents. But really it seems like the biggest factor over the last couple of years has been American pulling back the number of flights that it has out of Charlotte. So that decreases the number of passengers coming through. It's a little bit out of the airport's hands. It has completed a whole bunch of construction, I think, as we all know, an attempt to improve the customer experience. But it's basically a monopoly. So a lot of the factors that relate to the number of passengers going through the airport really are kind of out of the airport's control, and about two-thirds of the passengers that use Charlotte Douglas are connecting passengers, not local passengers.
Terry: Let’s stick with the airport. There are reports a big airline merger could be in the works and that it could have big implications for Charlotte Douglas. What can you tell us?
Mecia: Yeah, a lot of eyebrows were raised this week when Bloomberg News reported that the CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby, had a conversation with President Trump in late February in which he floated the idea of United merging with American Airlines. That would be a big deal because those are two of the three largest airlines in the country.
American has its second-largest hub here in Charlotte. The question obviously is, what does this mean for Charlotte? What would this mean for airfares? It sounds like this might not really be a serious proposal. There are a bunch of antitrust concerns. It sounds like American really isn't interested in it at all. But for Charlotte, if something like that were to happen, it could actually be OK because United does not have a hub in the Southeast and also Charlotte is one of the lowest cost hubs to operate.
I think Charlotte is seen as a desirable hub. I don't think we would lose the hub if something like that were to happen, but again, a lot of questions about whether that's something that is really going to play out.
Terry: Summer internships will be getting underway in just a few weeks. The city of Charlotte’s summer internship program for teens says it has received a record number of applications this year and is asking for additional employers to take part. Just how many more applications did the program get this year and what’s behind the increase?
Mecia: The city says it received 1,200 applications for this summer. That's up from 700 from last summer. They attribute the increase to a greater outreach, particularly among Title I schools. The city's been grappling with this issue of do teens have enough things to do during the summer, because we don't want them sitting idly around with extra time on their hands. So it is encouraging to see an increase in interest of teens working. But, yes, the city would like to find some more employers to help give these teens something to do. This comes at a time when internships can be very hard to get. They get very competitive. This is trying to help solve that problem.
Support for BizWorthy comes from the law office of Robertson & Associates.
