GREEN, Ohio — Akron-Canton Airport welcomed its one millionth passenger of 2026 over Halloween weekend, reaching the milestone earlier than anticipated, the airport announced on Wednesday, Nov. 4. It is the first time since 2017 that the Summit County airport in Green has crossed the one-million mark in a single year, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
With the holiday travel season still ahead, the airport now expects to serve up to 1.1 million passengers by the end of the year, according to the airport’s announcement. The airport said it will celebrate the milestone with a social media contest and in-terminal activities throughout the week to thank guests for their continued support.
“Reaching 1 million passengers reflects the confidence travelers and our airline partners place in CAK,” Ren Camacho, the airport’s president and CEO, said in the airport’s announcement. “We’re committed to making every journey comfortable and convenient, whether it’s a guest’s first visit or their hundredth. From enhanced concessions and affordable parking to attentive service, we’re investing in what matters most to our travelers,” Camacho said in the airport’s announcement.
The growth behind the milestone is broad. Seat capacity at the airport increased 30% from 2025, with growth across all four of its carriers, led by Breeze Airways and followed by Allegiant Air, according to the airport. American Airlines and United Airlines also serve the airport, which the Akron Beacon Journal reported now operates more than 20 commercial flights a day.
Breeze’s expansion is the largest single piece of that growth. The airline launched new routes from Akron-Canton in 2026 to Savannah, Georgia; Sarasota, Florida; and Portland, Maine, expanding options for leisure travelers, according to the airport. Breeze will also base a fourth aircraft at Akron-Canton in November as its local crew base continues to grow — aircraft based at the airport begin and end their daily schedules there, which the airport said supports local jobs, improved flight times and more frequent service.
The airport is also leaning on price. In its announcement, the airport listed its average fare at $118.33 — the lowest in the region — compared with $204.73 at Cleveland, $218.19 at Pittsburgh, $234.46 at Columbus and $246.03 at Detroit. The airport said additional seat capacity increases are already scheduled for 2027, across what is now a network of 24 nonstop destinations plus connections through airline hubs to destinations worldwide.
The milestone also stands out against the national picture. The Akron Beacon Journal reported that the airport reached one million passengers even as the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics put overall U.S. passenger traffic down by as much as 2% in its latest data from July.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed, from the airport’s own announcement, is the headline itself: the one-millionth passenger of 2026 arrived over Halloween weekend, ahead of the airport’s expectations, and the current forecast is up to 1.1 million passengers for the full year. What is not yet known is the final 2026 total — that depends on how the Thanksgiving and December holiday rush performs — and the airport has not yet detailed which routes will carry the additional seat capacity it says is scheduled for 2027.
The comeback behind the number has been building for several years. The Repository in Canton reported in January that Akron-Canton served 938,814 commercial passengers in 2025 — a 23.5% increase over 2024 and, at the time, its highest total since more than one million passengers passed through the airport in 2017. The Repository reported that the airport’s passenger numbers had been declining before the pandemic and have been steadily increasing since 2020, helped by airline expansions that included Breeze choosing Akron-Canton as its first Midwestern crew base.
The longer history makes the return to seven figures more striking. The airport, which celebrated its 80th anniversary on Oct. 13, opened in Green in 1946 and carried 43,032 passengers in its first year, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. It now employs about 60 people, the Beacon Journal reported — a small staff for an airport again moving more than a million travelers a year between Akron, Canton and the rest of Northeast Ohio.
Travelers following the airport’s recent growth can also read NewsForce247’s coverage of the airport’s $6.7 million west-side apron and hangar groundbreaking in Green and of ICE deportation flights expected to end at Akron-Canton Airport after Nov. 30.
What happens next is the holiday season. The airport’s in-terminal milestone celebrations run through this week, Breeze’s fourth based aircraft arrives this month, and the year-end passenger count — expected in January — will show whether Akron-Canton met its 1.1 million forecast and how much momentum it carries into the added capacity planned for 2027.
Photo: Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0