The airport in Indianapolis International has said more than 7.1 million passengers are traveling through Indy in 2021. It marks a 75% increase over the prior year. Also, officials, have said the amount of air cargo that came through was the highest in the airport’s history.

The airport says most of the increase in passenger traffic was due to pent-up demand from leisure travelers. The fourth quarter of 2021 saw the most traffic. It is mainly due to fall break travel in October and holiday travel in November and December.

“It’s a promising development. We are outpacing our peer airports in various states in passenger traffic recovery,” said Mario Rodriguez. He is executive director of the Indianapolis Airport Authority. “The pandemic has transformed the make-up of air travel. Pre-pandemic, 45% of air travel was business and 55% was leisure. In 2021, that breakdown was 18% business and 82% leisure.”

The airport added 22 nonstop flights to 10 new destinations. Plus two new airlines Sun County Airlines and Contour Airlines. Additionally, six nonstop flights that were halted due to the COVID-19 resumed in 2021.

Indy did also record 1.3 million tons of total cargo and 5.7 million tons of landing weight last year, both records. Marsha Stone is the senior director of commercial enterprise for the IAA. FedEx has processed the highest volume of cargo in its history at the airport. It does continue its $1.5 billion expansion at the Indy Hub.