BWI sets August record

BWI set an August record for traffic this summer, recording more than 2.1 million passengers, according to data from the airport.

Officials with Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport said August was the airport's second-busiest month ever and represented a 5.2 percent increase over August 2009 traffic.

"The record summer at BWI Marshall Airport confirmed that this is a vibrant, growing region that remains very attractive for airline service," Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) said.

Southwest Airlines, the largest airline at BWI, recorded a a 10 percent increase in its traffic. AirTrain, the second largest airline there, recorded an increase of 1.6 percent. Both airlines reported record levels of departures at the airport.

Southwest and AirTran announced last month plans to merge in a $1.4 billion deal that would bring the nation's largest low-cost carrier to Reagan National Airport for the first time and extend its already large presence at BWI. The combined carrier would have 31.5 percent of the region's air travel if regulators did not require it to shed routes.

Airport spokesman Jonathan Dean said passenger traffic at BWI has grown for 14 of the past 15 months. February was the exception, he said, when record snowfall shut down travel in the region and affected flight schedules across the country.