Honolulu Airport finished 10th among the nation’s busiest international airports in 2011, according to a study by the Brookings Institute released Oct. 25.
Hawaii’s largest airport served as a gateway for more than 4.1 million travelers flying to or from an international destination last year, up from 3.5 million in 2003, according to Brookings.
More than 77% of the international travelers using Honolulu’s airport last year were headed to or arriving from Asia-Pacific countries such as Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand or the Philippines. Nine percent were flying to or from Canada.
The Brookings study found that overall international travel to the U.S. more than doubled between 1990 and 2011 and said over 31.7 million international travelers used airports in the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island region, the most of any metropolitan area in the country and a surge of nearly 47% since 2003.