# 1.1 Million Passengers: Why South Bend's Airport Is Booming | Julie Curtis, South Bend International Airport

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/get-in-with-nate-spangle-6204412/1-1-million-passengers-why-south-bend-s-airport-is-booming-julie-curtis-south-bend-international-airport
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/get-in-with-nate-spangle-6204412/1-1-million-passengers-why-south-bend-s-airport-is-booming-julie-curtis-south-bend-international-airport.md
Podcast: [Get IN. with Nate Spangle](https://stenobird.com/podcast/get-in-with-nate-spangle-6204412)
Published: 2026-09-07T05:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://e6ac4656-1cdf-45b4-afa0-630691d86f8a.libsyn.com/11-million-passengers-why-south-bends-airport-is-booming-julie-curtis-south-bend-international-airport
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/e6ac4656-1cdf-45b4-afa0-630691d86f8a/SBAirport-Final-9-7.mp3?dest-id=4673917
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/get-in-with-nate-spangle-6204412/episodes/1-1-million-passengers-why-south-bend-s-airport-is-booming-julie-curtis-south-bend-international-airport
Duration seconds: 3580

## Resource

On today's show I sat down with Julie Curtis, VP of marketing and air service development at South Bend International Airport, about its growth and operations. We discuss SBN surpassing 1.1 million passengers in 2025 (best since 1997), how air service development works (retaining routes, adding new ones, addressing "leakage" to Chicago), and the airport's current nonstop network of 16 destinations on five airlines (American, Delta, United, Allegiant, and Breeze). She explains Breeze's 2024 launch in South Bend and the American-Landline luxury motor coach connection that functions gate-to-gate between SBN and O'Hare. Our conversation also covers Notre Dame game-week surges, ramp improvements enabling mainline aircraft at all gates, the SBN Up Front front-drive modernization project, the South Shore rail station at the terminal, and how airports operate like "mini cities" with many independent tenants and agencies. If you like this episode and want to hear more Get IN. episodes where I interview Hoosiers making a difference, visit getindiana.com/podcast. You are going to learn about: - South Bend International Airport's Growth and Record 2025 - How Air Service Development Works - SBN's Nonstop Network - How Airports are Like Mini Cities Thank you to our partners: NCW Rohrman Automotive Group Check out these great clips from the show: 00:00 Airports Like Mini Cities 01:19 Guest Introduction: Julie Curtis, South Bend International Airport 02:43 Julie's Path To SBN 03:52 Becoming International 04:46 What Air Service Means 07:13 Routes Airlines And Breeze 10:37 Fighting Chicago Leakage 12:33 American Landline Coach 16:45 Record Year And 90s Peak 18:13 Notre Dame Game Day Surge 24:09 Misconceptions And Hubs 25:51 SBN Up Front Project 29:37 Multimodal Hub And Staffing 31:43 Ai…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/get-in-with-nate-spangle-6204412/episodes/1-1-million-passengers-why-south-bend-s-airport-is-booming-julie-curtis-south-bend-international-airport/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/get-in-with-nate-spangle-6204412/1-1-million-passengers-why-south-bend-s-airport-is-booming-julie-curtis-south-bend-international-airport.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.