OREANDA-NEWS. Charlotte Douglas made history last year serving 43.46 million travelers - the largest passenger traffic numbers in Airport history. It's a 5.4 percent jump from 2012, which saw 41.23 million people flying through CLT.

Airport officials attribute much of the gain to increased flights by airlines who serve CLT. Southwest Airlines debuted on Sunday, April 14, 2013 at Charlotte Douglas and offered six daily flights to Baltimore, Chicago, Houston and Orlando. US Airways also launched daily nonstop service to Sao Paulo, Brazil on Saturday, June 8, 2013.

Contributing to the record breaking number, international travel rose 4.3 percent from 2.7 million passengers traveling abroad in 2012 to 2.8 million in 2013.

In addition to passenger traffic, operations reached new heights in 2013 as well. CLT offered nonstop service to 146 destinations and averaged 714 daily departures and landings in 2013. Last year, Charlotte Douglas oversaw 557,948 aircraft movements, a 1.1 percent bump from 2012, which had 552,093.

Cargo activity also saw an upswing. It climbed from 126,730 tons in 2012 to 129,799 tons in 2013, a 2.42 percent increase.

CLT continues to be one of the fastest growing airports in the country. Throughout the past 10 years passenger traffic at has soared 88.43 percent and operations have grown 25.83 percent. Airports Council International's (ACI) 2012 rankings placed Charlotte Douglas eighth nationwide in passenger traffic and sixth nationwide in operations. Rankings for 2013 will be released in spring 2014.