New flight offerings have helped to drive passenger volume at both South Florida airports. Of concern, though, is the outcome of the Spirit-JetBlue merger. The airlines are dominant carriers.

More than 7.8 million passengers flew out of Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) in 2023, eclipsing the previous record of 6.9 million passengers set in the pre-pandemic year of 2019 by 13% and the 2022 number by 17%.

2024 is already off to a strong start, according to Senior Deputy Director of Airports Gary Sypek, who expects a new passenger record again as airlines will be flying to more destinations. Silver Airways has returned, and is expected to offer direct flights to three Florida cities later this year.

New flight offerings at PBI include:

• Golf enthusiasts lucky enough to get Masters tickets will be able to fly out of PBI on Delta Airlines direct to Augusta, Georgia while Southwest Airlines will be offering nonstop service to St. Louis during spring training. The St. Louis Cardinals train in Jupiter at Roger Dean Stadium.
• Silver Airways, daily flights to Tampa and Nassau beginning March 5; Tallahassee service three times a week beginning March 6; Pensacola service two times a week beginning March 7; and service to Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, times a week beginning March 5.
• Frontier Airlines, new nonstop service from to San Juan, Puerto Rico three times a week beginning June 2.
• American Airlines, extended nonstop service to Chicago O’Hare throughout the summer.

PBI passenger numbers have shown for some time that the airport has fully recovered from the pandemic slowdown.

MORE: A ‘game changer’: JetBlue direct flights from Fort Lauderdale to Tallahassee begin

JetBlue continues to be the number one carrier at PBI, accounting for 27% of all traffic in 2023. The airline processed 1.1 million passengers, marking the first time it exceeded the one-million figure.

Delta was a close second to JetBlue, accounting for 26% of passengers. Southwest registered the largest percentage increase year-to-year of any airline, up 46% from 2022 with 293,000 passengers serviced.

Silver Airways spokeswoman Kate Loughlin said Silver recognizes PBI as a great niche market as there is a great demand for flights within Florida and to the Bahamas from PBI. Its planes can carry up to 70 passengers. One-way fares start at $79 for Tampa, $105 for Tallahassee, $109 for Marsh Harbour, $115 for Nassau and $119 for Pensacola.

PBI had a busy December with nearly 800,000 passengers using the airport, 14% more than in 2022. But it may have been too busy as many travelers had to deal with flight delays of two hours or more during the month due to heavy air traffic volume.

The FAA issued ground delays from Dec. 26 through Dec. 28 to limit air traffic. As a result, flights headed to and from the airport were delayed an average of 70 minutes. More than 100 flights were impacted. Other South Florida airports experienced extensive delays as well.

How did Fort Lauderdale Airport fare?

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) also reported strong numbers for 2023; preliminary data shows that nearly 35 million travelers flew out of the Broward County-based airport.

Unlike PBI, FLL has yet to exceed the pre-COVID traffic of 2019. While the 2023 figure is 10% higher than 2022, it is about 5% less than the 2019 number. FLL’s newsletter reports a busy holiday time. From Dec. 21 to Jan. 6, it served roughly 2 million passengers, about 14% more people than the same period the previous year.

FLL continues to offer new flights:

• JetBlue celebrated its inaugural service to Tallahassee International Airport (TLH) on January 4. The flights operate once daily.
• Silver Airways began offering nonstop service on Dec. 18 to the Turks and Caicos Islands. Flights operate twice weekly. One-way fares start at $129.

Can Spirit survive as a stand-alone carrier?

PBI and FLL could be hurt by the outcome of the proposed JetBlue-Spirit airlines merger. A federal judge has blocked the merger because he found it would lead to much higher fares for consumers. The two airlines are appealing the decision. A hearing is expected to be heard in June.

MORE: Spirit, JetBlue appeal of decision that blocked its merger to be heard in June. Will it be too late?

Spirit stock has lost more than half of its value since the court ruling in January. Analysts have speculated that the airline will not survive as a stay-alone entity. It is the number one carrier at FLL, accounting for nearly 30% of all traffic; JetBlue, the number two carrier, accounts for 20%.

During an earnings call Feb. 8, Spirit executives took issue with the pessimism of Wall Street analysts, claiming it can survive if the merger does not go through. He accused the analysts of advancing a “misguided narrative.”

Spirit, according to CEO Ted Christie, has increased its liquidity levels to give it “the necessary flexibility to successfully close with JetBlue or to pursue our standalone plans.”

Spirit has already started to reduce flights on off-peak days and has suspended flights from some of its recently launched markets.

Following the comments, Spirit stock closed at $7.18 on Thursday, an increase of 3.3%.

Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and transportation. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.