Mesa Gateway Airport tops 1M passengers

PHOENIX — More than 1.3 million people flew in and out of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport last year, a 44 percent jump from 2011.

Allegiant Air is getting credit for most of the increase because it flies more routes than Gateway’s other two airlines, Frontier and Spirit.

Airport executive director Lynn Kusy said the rapid climb toward 2 million will be accommodated by a series of terminal expansions with the fifth expansion to be completed this fall.

Long-term expansion plans call for a new terminal to be built on the site’s eastern border, with links to Ellsworth Road, three Loop 202 interchanges and access from the future State Route Arizona 24, known as the Gateway Freeway.