Port Authority of New York and New Jersey airports soar through September, setting new monthly record

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey today announced that its commercial airports are flying high into the record books with their busiest September of all time, on track for their busiest year ever. The PATH commuter rail system recorded its busiest month since February 2020, marking new post-pandemic highs for total monthly riders and average weekday riders. At the Port of New York and New Jersey, September 2024 marked the second-busiest September in the port’s history, behind only the record volumes experienced during the pandemic-related cargo surge in 2022. The port also maintained its position as the nation’s second-busiest gateway for loaded cargo year-to-date. The Port Authority’s vehicular crossings maintained strong levels matching pre-pandemic vehicular volumes.

Airports:

September 2024 marked the busiest September ever at the Port Authority’s commercial airports. They welcomed approximately 11.9 million passengers during the month. This was an increase of more than 100,000 passengers from the previous record set in September 2023. To date, 2024 has seen new monthly records set across five of the year’s nine months.

The Port Authority’s airports are on track to break the air passenger record set in 2023 for busiest year of all time. From January through September, about 109.7 million passengers used the agency’s airports. This was a jump of about 1.5 million passengers over the same period of 2023.

Passenger volumes decreased 11 percent from August 2024, marking the end of the traditional summer travel season.

PATH Commuter Rail:

The PATH commuter rail recorded several post-pandemic highs in September 2024. The month’s total of 5.12 million passengers was the highest for any month since February 2020. It surpassed the previous post-pandemic monthly high of 5.05 million passengers set in May 2024.

September 2024’s total was a 16 percent jump from September 2023. The September 2024 ridership volume represented 74 percent of PATH’s volume in September 2019, the system’s best performance compared to pre-pandemic 2019 levels. Year-to-date, PATH has welcomed 42 million passengers, a 13 percent jump from the same period in 2023.

The system also marked a post-pandemic high for average weekday ridership at 206,543 passengers. It was the highest average weekday ridership since February 2020 and the first post-pandemic month during which ridership surpassed 200,000 weekday riders. September 2024’s average weekday figure was a 15 percent jump from September 2023.

Weekends continued to see strong demand. Average Saturday ridership during the month surpassed average Saturday ridership in pre-pandemic September 2019 by about 2 percent, finishing at 117,930 riders. September 2024’s average Sunday ridership of 87,805 came in just 3 percent below September 2019’s average Sunday ridership. Both were about 25 percent higher than figures from September 2023.

Port of New York and New Jersey:

September 2024 marked the second-busiest September of all time at the Port of New York and New Jersey, eclipsed only by the pandemic-related cargo surge in 2022. The port handled a total of 779,388 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) during the month.

It was the seventh consecutive month in which the port surpassed 700,000 total TEUs handled. The port maintained its status as the nation’s second-busiest gateway for loaded cargo, handling 4,388,397 loaded TEUs over the first nine months of the year.

September 2024’s total activity continued the port’s strong year-over-year growth. It was an 18 percent increase over September 2023’s total, and a 25 percent jump from pre-pandemic September 2019.

Over the first nine months of the year, the port handled 6,586,905 total TEUs. This was a 14 percent increase over the same period of 2023, and a jump of 18 percent over the first nine months of 2019.

Tunnels, Bridges and Terminals:

The Port Authority’s six vehicular crossings were used by about 10.2 million eastbound vehicles in September 2024. The total helped maintain strong volume recorded in both September 2023 and pre-pandemic September 2019. Over the first nine months of the year, approximately 91.3 million eastbound crossings were recorded. This was consistent with strong benchmarks recorded over the same periods of 2023 and 2019.