Nearly 18.8 million passengers passed through the gates at San Diego International Airport last year, setting a new record, officials at San Diego's airport said Friday.
The total exceeded the previous high of 18.3 million in 2007 — before the effects of the recession struck — and was 5.9 percent higher than 2013, according to data provided by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.
The airport also set an all-time high of nearly 673,000 international passengers in 2014, an increase of 7.2 percent over the previous year.
"By virtually any passenger metric, San Diego International Airport has seen exceptionally strong and steady growth in recent years," said Thella Bowens, president and CEO of the airport authority.
"Our goal has always been to offer more and better air travel options, and to make flying in and out of San Diego as convenient as possible," Bowens said. "These numbers show that our efforts are bearing fruit."
She credited the record performance to an increase in the number of nonstop flights, new routes and destinations, enhancements in airport and airline capacity, and a steady improvement in the economy.
Passenger traffic at Lindbergh Field hit a recession-era low of 16.9 million in 2010, hovered at that level in 2011, and has increased in the three years since, airport data shows.
