The Savannah / Hilton Head International Airport Commission Monday received a service update based on a recent passenger survey – the first update since this kind of survey was instituted in 2009.  

The updated report was provided by Lori Lynah, the airport’s director of marketing and air service development. The latest survey, conducted last May, offered some interesting insights into the growth of passenger services at the airport.

For example, passengers flying into SHHIA bound for Savannah’s Historic District made up less than 60 percent of the passenger load five years ago. This May’s survey showed that number leap to 70 percent, making Downtown Savannah the airports top tourist destination. Hilton Head’s passenger traffic, which made up about 31 percent in 2009, is not at 39 percent, according to the survey, meaning that roughly 60 percent of all passenger traffic into SHHIA stays in Georgia, while the remainder crosses the state line to South Carolina. 

Total passenger volume is up some 174,407 since the 2009 survey, which represents a 16 percent increase in only five years.

The top destinations for the airport are New York City (39.5%), Dallas (11.2%), Washington DC (9.7%), Detroit (7.5 %), Chicago (7.1%), Boston (6.1%), Philadelphia (6 %), Atlanta (5.5%), Los Angeles (4.5%) and Pittsburg (2.8%). 

Dallas had been the sixth most popular destination in 2009, now leaping to number two, probably because of heavy Delta service which has a major hub in Dallas. However, Delta’s overall market share dropped by just 1 percent since the 2009 survey.

In comparison to neighboring airports over the twelve-month period, 67.8 percent of passengers said they used Savannah, while 8.6 percent used Jacksonville, 3.2 percent departed Hilton Head Island, 8.7 percent left from Charleston.

As for arrivals by airline, Delta topped the list with 39 percent, U.S. Airways reported 23 percent, United had 17 percent and American was at 6 percent. Jet Blue reported 15 percent after only three months of operations at the time the survey was conducted. The recent merger between US Airways and American Airlines will show US Airways / American as a single number in the next report.

Lynah said that, while business travel is up a bit over 2009, leisure travel still makes up the highest percentage of passengers, some 55.6 percent.

Lynah reported that the airport authority has been in expansion talks this year with such airlines as Jet Blue, Delta, United, Spirit, Sun Country (Canadian), People’s Express, Allegiant, Silver, West Jet (Canadian), Air Canada, and Virgin America. The goal is to expand service to Canada, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Chicago, Washington DC, and the Midwest.