Both Ontario International and Long Beach Airport broke passenger travel records in May, with Long Beach hitting a record high for the second time in three months and Ontario notching the highest passenger count since 2007.
Hollywood-Burbank and Los Angeles International airports saw more modest growth in their passenger tallies in May, with year-over-year growth in the 4% range at both airports.
Overall, the four airports serving Los Angeles County recorded 8.27 million passengers in May, up 5.6% from the same month last year.
Long Beach Airport, the smallest of the four airports by passenger count, posted the highest year-over-year growth rate as its traveler tally jumped 23% in May to 380,000 compared with the same month last year. That was enough to push the monthly count to an all-time record high, topping the previous record high set in March when 362,000 went through the gates.
For the last year, the passenger counts at Long Beach have been soaring as the new dominant carrier there, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co., has continued to add flights to previously unserved destinations as it fills out its flight allotments at the airport.
“As we celebrate 100 years of service, this is an incredible historic milestone to see more passengers move through LGB than ever before,” Long Beach Airport Director Cynthia Guidry said in the airport’s announcement of the numbers.
“The diversification of our route network, coupled with ongoing infrastructure and service upgrades have positioned LGB to reach new heights as the preferred choice for travelers in Southern California,” Guidry added.
Meanwhile, at Ontario, nearly 619,000 passengers went through the gates in May, topping the 606,500 passengers mark reached last October. Both are the highest levels since Los Angeles World Airports ceded control of the airport back to local hands in 2016. These also appear to be the highest totals since 2007, before the Great Recession decimated the travel industry, although monthly totals from that period are not currently available.
May’s total at Ontario was up 11% over the same month last year and up 30% from pre-pandemic May 2019.
“Ontario International Airport achieved record passenger volumes in May and continued to experience double-digit year-over-year growth, which underscores the excellence of our facilities, services, and amenities, as well as the dedication of our employees,” Atif Elkadi, chief executive of the Ontario International Airport Authority, said in the announcement of the May numbers.
“We anticipate welcoming more than 2 million travelers over the summer travel season and are on track to surpass 7 million passengers for the year,” Elkadi added.
The last time the airport recorded more than 7 million passengers was in 2007, when 7.2 million travelers went through the gates.
Modest growth at BUR, LAX
LAX saw the weakest year-over-year growth at the four airports, with the May passenger tally of 6.73 million up 4.3% from the same month last year.
As has been the case all year long, domestic passenger totals at LAX have stagnated, with May’s tally of 4.68 million up only 1.6% from the same month last year. For the first five months of the year, the domestic passenger count has risen a mere 0.4% from the same period last year.
The news has not been great on the international travel front either. While the year-over-year growth rate in May for international passengers was in the double digits at just over 11%, that’s a far cry from May of last year, when the year-over-year growth rate was 33%.
At the beginning of the year, airport officials estimated that international passenger counts would return to pre-pandemic 2019 levels by the middle of this year. But with the growth rate decelerating and the tally still 11.5% shy of May 2019, that now appears unlikely.
Domestic passenger traffic remains stuck at about 16% below pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
Nonetheless, airport officials remained optimistic about international passenger traffic growth.
“Looking ahead, domestic travel remains steady leading into the fall, and international travel continues to grow, with notable increases in travel to Canada and Central and South America,” said Doug Webster, interim chief operations and maintenance officer at Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that runs LAX and Van Nuys airports.
As if to underscore that last point, it was reported earlier this month that Seattle-based Alaska Airlines is slated to add flights from LAX to both La Paz and Monterrey in Mexico.
Meanwhile, at Burbank, passenger traffic rose 4.7% in May to 537,000 compared with the same month last year. That tally was about 7.5% ahead of pre-pandemic May 2019.
Officials with that airport were not available for comment.
Uptick in cargo tonnage
After months of relatively sluggish growth in cargo tonnage handled at the four airports serving Los Angeles County, May saw a 10% increase to 281,000 metric tons compared with last year.
About 98% of that total comes from just two of the four airports, LAX and Ontario. At LAX, cargo tonnage rose 10.4% to 210,000 tons. That’s about 6% higher than the pre-pandemic May 2019 level.
At Ontario, cargo tonnage handled rose nearly 9% year-over-year in May to nearly 67,000. That’s down nearly 2% from pre-pandemic May 2019.Â
