On Wednesday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said its commercial airports opened 2024 with the second busiest January of all time, continuing their moment into the new year.
The Port Authority said that momentum was evident in its seaport, as well as its PATH commuter railroad.
The agency said its commercial airports continued their strong results, seeing approximately 10.4 million passengers in January 2024, up almost 90,000 passengers over January 2023. The monthly total was only surpassed by January 2020, when the airports saw 10.5 million passengers. Passenger volume was expected to decline by about 13 percent compared to December 2023, officials said. The growth was driven by an 11 percent increase in international travel.
In the Port of New York and New Jersey, January 2024 saw more than 667,000 TEUs, outpacing the port’s activity pre-pandemic by 7.2 percent, and exceeding January 2023 by 3.4 percent. January 2024’ volume also outpaced December’s volume by 5.3 percent. Officials said it was the second busiest port in the nation for loaded imports and exports in January, handling 447,514 TEUs, 2.6 percent the port’s levels from January 2023.
And the agency’s PATH commuter railroad saw an increase in ridership serving about 4.1 million passengers in January 2024, officials said. Ridership is up almost 10 percent over January 2023, the agency said. Average weekly ridership in January 2024 was 161,762. Weekday volume was up 11 percent over January 2023’s average weekday volume.
The agency said its six vehicular crossings served some 9.3 million eastbound vehicles in January, lower than January 2023, and 10.4 percent below December 2023’s busy holiday travel volume.