The busy day came the Monday after the Circuit of the Americas hosted the 2021 Formula One U.S. Grand Prix from Oct. 22-24. Airport traffic was also particularly high Oct. 24, reaching 29,251 passengers—the 10th busiest day ever—according to airport officials.
The previous record came the Monday after the 2019 F1 U.S. Grand Prix when the airport hit 31,934 passengers on Nov. 4, 2019. The 2020 race was cancelled due to COVID-19.
After a significant drop in passenger traffic at the beginning of the pandemic, the airport has started to see its overall passenger counts rebound to pre-pandemic levels.
October has been an especially busy month, during which the airport saw large crowds for the Austin City Limits Music Festival and the F1 race. The fifth busiest day ever happened on Oct. 8, which was the Friday of the second weekend of ACL as well as the day before the University of Texas versus the University of Oklahoma football game.
