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The Friday following the Democratic National Convention, more local passengers went through Charlotte Douglas International Airport than any single day before, officials said Thursday.
More than 26,000 departed from Charlotte Douglas on Sept. 7, as convention-goers streamed out of the city following President Barack Obama’s acceptance of his renomination. That’s an 80 percent increase over the same day last year, the airport said in a news release.
The Transportation Safety Administration screened 29,539 people and 21,276 bags, also a single-day record. The number of people screened includes employees as well as passengers.
About 100,000 passengers a day typically pass through the airport, but the vast majority of them are transferring planes and don’t leave the airport or pass through security. The airport’s numbers for the day after the DNC refer only to those passengers who actually left from the airport.
US Airways, the primary carrier at Charlotte Douglas, had 16,800 departing passengers leave from Charlotte on Sept. 7, officials said. That’s nearly double the 9,326 who left from Charlotte on the Friday after Labor Day last year.
“It was the airport’s responsibility to be the first impression of the Charlotte region for our visitors, as well as to ‘close the deal’ by providing the last impression,” said Aviation Director Jerry Orr, in a statement. “I believe we did our job by delivering a positive overall experience for passengers visiting the city.”
