In September, The North Carolina Department of Transportation shared a new video visualizing flight activity at Charlotte-Monroe Executive Airport (EQY) in 2024. The animation shows operations by month and includes nearly 8,000 tracked flights. That sample represents about 11 percent of EQY’s takeoffs and landings last year.
Airport records show 71,628 takeoffs and landings in 2024. For clarity, this “operations” total does not include 2,046 go-arounds and 2,149 overflights also recorded on the airfield that year.
According to state reports, EQY ranked second among North Carolina’s general aviation airports by total operations in 2024. The airport remains on track to hold that position this year. Of airports that serve only general aviation with no commercial or military components, Monroe ranks second behind Johnston County Airport (KJNX).
EQY is also one of only eight airports in the entire state of North Carolina to offer customs services for international travelers through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP.) This positions the airport as a key entry point for global business and personal travel.
What counts as an “operation”?
In everyday terms, an aircraft operation is a takeoff or a landing at an airport. For this update we are using that standard meaning. Go-arounds and overflights are not included in the EQY “operations” total above.
How the FAA classifies airports:
The FAA defines a general aviation airport as a “public-use airport that does not have scheduled service or has scheduled service with fewer than 2,500 passenger boardings each year.” The broader system includes commercial service airports (primary large hub, medium hub, small hub, nonhub; nonprimary commercial service) and reliever airports.
Watch the video:
https://tinyurl.com/EQy2024Flights
Video courtesy of NCDOT Division of Aviation. The visualization shows monthly flow in and out of EQY and is intended to illustrate patterns, not provide a complete count of every 2024 flight.
By the numbers (2024):
- 71,628 takeoffs and landings
- 34,935 landings; 36,693 takeoffs
- 2,046 go-arounds; 2,149 overflights (not counted in “operations”)
- Statewide rank: No. 2 among General Aviation airports by total operations