“Dayton area companies do business around the world,” said Chris Kershner, president and chief executive of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce. “Increased flight capacity to a destination like Chicago is proof of demand in our market.”
He added: “When you combine good flight options to Chicago with a great airport, it’s a no-brainer to fly out of Dayton.”
Dayton International Airport, known by its airport call sign “DAY,” finished 2025 with 1.7% growth in passenger enplanements, welcoming more than 11,000 additional departing passengers compared to the previous year.
Dayton sees the higher departures as a “significant win.”
2025 was marked by federal funding cuts and a government shutdown, which the city said “created operational and financial challenges for airports nationwide, especially those that have a large percentage of federal government passengers like DAY.”
Three out of the four airline carriers at DAY reported growth, with United Airlines seeing the strongest growth in departures by 11.3%, Dayton said.
The new capacity to Chicago will feature more flights and upgraded aircraft over the next six months, the city said.
United expects an average of 45 additional departing flights and 2,805 more seats available per month starting in the spring.
“Our 2025 performance is a testament to the strength of this community and the loyalty of passengers who continue choosing to fly local,” Gil Turner, Dayton’s aviation director, said in the city’s announcement. “Growing enplanements in a difficult federal funding climate shows the resilience of our region. The added Chicago service is an exciting next step toward improving the travel options for our passengers.”
Passenger boardings at DAY also grew in 2024, for the fourth straight year. However, the airport has been significantly less busy than it was pre-pandemic.
In the span of a decade, the airport went from being the 80th largest commercial airport in the nation to the 126th largest, according to a Dayton Daily News analysis of data from the Federal Aviation Administration.
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