It’s become customary in the aviation industry to compare growth against the benchmark of 2019: a year of record-breaking profitability bolstered by a strong economy and the last full year unaffected by the world’s recent COVID pandemic. At Huntsville International Airport, we are pleased to announce that our commercial passenger traffic and availability of seats and service have made a full recovery compared to 2019 and are bounding toward another record-breaking year in 2023.

As a result of this recovery, HSV is seeing one of its best financial periods ever in fiscal year 2023. On the commercial airside, the addition of routes from HSV to four desirable leisure destinations has elevated our reputation beyond that of an airport catering primarily to the business traveler. American Airlines brought back nonstop Miami service this year to enthusiastic reception. Breeze Airways continues to fulfill our hopes for its potential. Offering nonstop flights to Tampa, Orlando and Las Vegas and with lower fares than legacy carriers, Breeze has made an impact on the travel patterns in our market as well as exerted downward pressure on higher fares. Even though introducing a startup airline to the community presents challenges – to say nothing of doing so in a COVID year – we have found that once passengers gave Breeze a try, they loved the new jets, cheerful service and low prices. Breeze launched leisure routes in FY23 from Huntsville to Las Vegas and Orlando, and the community has eagerly supported them. What this tells us and Breeze leadership is that Huntsville is a good model for their business plan.

On the non-commercial flight side of the airport, Signature Aviation is investing $12 million in an expansion of their existing terminal. This investment will renovate the terminal and create a modern, aesthetically attractive building that receives executive decision-makers and a variety of leaders in industry, entertainment and government. Corporate leaders representing large commercial interests from Federal to private industries researching investment in Huntsville and North Alabama will have a first look upon touchdown that matches our reputation for excellence and reflects the superlatives and firsts for which our community is known.

HSV has been able to invest $10 million in paving projects this past year. While these types of projects often go unnoticed, the investment in maintaining top-notch pavement on our runways, taxiways and parking lots is essential for the safety of our customers and staff. A new employee parking lot, which we broke ground on in FY23, will free space for a new rental car return lot, positioning us to grow our rental car business. A cell phone waiting lot, coming online in December 2023, will alleviate arrivals congestion in front of the terminal.

The Port of Huntsville – on which Huntsville International Airport sits – encompasses 7,400 acres and has been the site of increased commercial building activity. We saw ground-breaking events for a number of new buildings for Fanaco Fasteners, The Food Bank of North Alabama, auto supplier Custom Assembly, and others. These businesses and more like them are what we hope to attract, making for compatible land development near the airport. Our desired future contains further development of land on our western border that could beautifully accommodate warehousing and distribution centers in advantageous proximity to I-565 and the conveniences of air, rail and trucking cargo transportation available via our International Intermodal Center.

We are proud to present this annual report highlighting the achievements our team has secured and the great progress our organization has made in recovering from the pandemic years of 2020-2022. There is much to celebrate at the Port of Huntsville, and we look forward to the good things that 2024 will bring as we become an even more robust economic driver for North Alabama. We are grateful for your support as we continue to carry out the mission of the Port of Huntsville: To provide quality, multi-modal transportation services to a diverse regional customer base and to stimulate the economic growth and development of the Tennessee Valley region.

Philip W. “Trey” Bentley III, Board Chair

Luther “Butch” Roberts, CEO