Special to The Travel Trolley
GREEN, Ohio — Record snow and freezing temperatures haven’t cooled things down at Akron-Canton Airport (CAK), the airport announced.
Customers from throughout the region helped CAK sizzle this January. Nearly 107,000 passengers traveled to and from CAK during the month, making it the airport’s busiest January of all time. That figure is up 4 percent compared to 2009 and beats the airport’s previous best January by 4,425 passengers which was in 2006.
“This is a phenomenal start to the year,” Rick McQueen, the airport’s president and CEO, said in a news release. “Our snow crews have kept the runways open so that travelers are able to escape the snowy winter weather.
“Plus, the new AirTran flights to Ft. Lauderdale give customers another great nonstop Florida destination. Our dedicated team and more nonstop destinations help keep Akron-Canton Airport a better way to go,” he added.
AirTran Airways, which added nonstop service to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in November carried 52,071 total passengers for the month, an increase of 6 percent compared to January 2009. Plus, new SkyWest Airlines’ (in partnership with AirTran Airways) flights to Milwaukee contributed to the record.
United Express gained a 21 percent increase compared to January 2009. Finally, US Airways and Delta were up 4 percent and 1 percent respectively. Looking ahead, CAK is the only airport in Ohio showing increased seat capacity in early 2010, the airport said in a news release.