This article was originally published on TimesFreePress.com.
Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport passenger boardings soared 12.8 percent in September as Delta Air Lines has added more seats out of Lovell Field, officials said today.
“It’s been very positive,” Airport Chief Executive Terry Hart said about the boardings increase, which could hit an annual record for the second consecutive year at the airport. For the year through September, boardings are 12.9 percent above a year ago to 289,286 passengers, according to airport figures.
Last year’s mark of 352,459 passengers was a record for boardings at Lovell Field.
Hart said at a meeting of the Airport Authority that preliminary October numbers look strong in terms of customer bookings. Hart said Delta added 400 seats to the Chattanooga market the first week of October by increasing the size of aircraft out of the city. The next week also was up in numbers of seats, he said.