According to data from RadarBox.com, Charlotte Douglas International Airport is currently busier than New York’s JFK.
The margin between the two airports is down to less than 100 weekly airports, but this is an unusual fact in the context of the Summer 2023 season.
Without further ado, let’s get into the numbers…
New York JFK Still Performing Well…
JFK in New York is still performing very well, having received 1,392 flights between May 30-June 6, based on a seven-day rolling average provided by the flight tracking company.
This represents a 12.26% increase compared to the same period last year and is 125 movements higher than the pre-COVID figure of 2019.
Below is the last four weeks’ worth of data surrounding the airport:
| Date | 2019 Numbers | 2022 Numbers | 2023 Numbers | Percentage Difference (2023 vs. 2022) |
| May 2-9 | 1240 movements | 1249 movements | 1357 movements | +8.65% |
| May 9-16 | 1258 movements | 1247 movements | 1355 movements | +8.66% |
| May 16-23 | 1255 movements | 1250 movements | 1356 movements | +8.48% |
| May 23-30 | 1250 movements | 1218 movements | 1372 movements | +12.72% |
What we can see from the data is that New York JFK’s numbers are steadily rising week-on-week compared to last year.
Charlotte Douglas Is Busier…
In comparison to New York JFK, Charlotte Douglas Airport is the busier out of the two, handling 1,488 flights between May 30-June 6.
This represents an increase of 10.96% compared to the same period last year but is around 20-30 movements short of 2019 levels.
Below is the last four weeks’ worth of data for the airport:
| Date | 2019 Numbers | 2022 Numbers | 2023 Numbers | Percentage Difference (2023 vs. 2022) |
| May 2-9 | 1512 movements | 1324 movements | 1495 movements | +12.92% |
| May 9-16 | 1534 movements | 1368 movements | 1472 movements | +7.60% |
| May 16-23 | 1546 movements | 1392 movements | 1478 movements | +6.18% |
| May 23-30 | 1512 movements | 1382 movements | 1439 movements | +4.12% |
What we can see from the data is that Charlotte Douglas is moving away from the 2019 levels, but is still producing growth week-on-week currently.
Compared to New York JFK however, the airport is still cruising ahead of the busy North Eastern airport, and things look set to stay that way for now.
