Record year for Hilton Head’s airport

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (WTOC) - Hilton Head Island’s airport may be small, but the number of passengers traveling through is anything but tiny.

388,816 people flew through this terminal in 2021. That’s around 1,065 per day, but you don’t need any calculations to know that’s a record number by a whole lot.

“Our past record was 233,000, so we beat it by a 150,000. So, it was significantly larger this year,” airport Director Jon Rembold said.

He says that was led by a booming peak season, where an empty terminal like today was nowhere to be found.

“All summer long the terminal was packed, and we had to deal with congestion inside there, which was a challenge, but a good challenge.”

As the airport grows in popularity, there’s a project on the horizon that will help meet the high demand. It’s a brand new terminal, that will triple the size of the current one and has Rembold pretty pumped.

“There may be somebody more excited to get this project underway, but I’m not sure,” Rembold said.

You’re getting a first look at a proposal for what the new terminal could look like. The airport director says it will increase space for security, include jet bridges and allow the whole airport to operate more smoothly.

“It’s just going to be a huge improvement and it’s what the island deserves frankly. With those numbers going up and really with our anticipation of that increasing over time… it is what the island deserves,” Rembold said.

Rembold estimates the terminal’s construction will take about two and a half years once they finalize all the plans. As for setting a record number of travelers in 2022, he says we’ll just have to wait and see.

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