Faced with months of slowing growth in passenger counts – culminating in August with the first year-over-year drop in passengers since the initial pandemic shock – officials overseeing Los Angeles International Airport have created a new unit that aims to lure more airline flights to the airport.

The group is called an “air service development unit,” and was launched in July, according to Doug Webster, chief of operations and maintenance officer for Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that oversees LAX. Webster provided no further details on the unit or the steps it is considering to stimulate more flights to and from LAX.

Nonetheless, the move represents airport administrators’ first attempt to stem the ebbing tide of passengers. It comes as growth in passengers has ground to a halt over the past year, led by several year-over-year drops in domestic passenger counts.

In fact, August numbers released late last month showed a 0.6% drop in total passengers coming through the gates at LAX compared to August of last year. That’s the first year-over-year drop in passengers since March 2021, the last month where pre-pandemic passenger counts were part of the equation. (Airlines began shutting down flights in response to the pandemic in March 2020; by April 2020, passenger counts had dropped to the lowest levels since 1955.)

That contrasts with the soaring performance in August at the three regional airports serving Los Angeles County: Hollywood Burbank, Ontario International and Long Beach. Those airports collectively reported late last month nearly 13% more passengers in August than in the same month last year and 13% more than in pre-pandemic August 2019.

The August stats come after an even more impressive July, during which these three regional airports reported year-over-year growth of nearly 16%.

“The impressive growth we’ve seen this summer demonstrates the confidence passengers have in Long Beach Airport,” said Long Beach Airport Director Cynthia Guidry. “We are thrilled to set a new benchmark and remain committed to providing an exceptional travel experience.”

Ontario International, which was the first local airport to fully recover from the pandemic, is now seeing passenger tallies running about 30% above pre-pandemic levels.

“Demand for travel through Ontario International Airport remained strong in August, particularly among domestic passengers,” said Atif Elkadi, chief executive of the Ontario International Airport Authority. “The population and economy of the Inland Empire continue to flourish as many Southern Californians along the coast move inland seeking lower cost of living and enhanced quality of life. Airlines are responding to this favorable trend by adding more flights and destinations from our airport.”

Domestic passenger drop at LAX

As has been the case for much of the past year at LAX, the tally of domestic passengers fell 2.5% in August compared to August of last year. For the year-to-date, domestic passenger counts at LAX are down 0.4% compared to the first eight months of last year.

Webster said much of the downturn in August was attributable to structural changes at two primarily domestic airlines: Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. (passenger tally down 20% in August compared to last year) and New York-based JetBlue Airways Corp. (passenger tally down 33%).

“These are results from structural shifts for both airlines who are dealing with changes to their system strategies from a network and product perspective,” he said.
International passenger counts, which until the second quarter had been increasing at a double-digit percentage clip, grew by only 4% in August compared to the same month last year. That was not enough to offset the drop in domestic passengers.

As a result, not only was the total LAX August passenger count of 6.98 million down from the same month last year, it was also 14% below pre-pandemic August 2019. Given the current trends in passengers going through LAX, recovery to pre-pandemic passenger levels appears to be years away.

Cargo levels continue rebound

Nearly 280,000 metric tons of cargo were handled at the four airports in August, up 5% from the same month last year. Roughly 98% of the cargo is handled at LAX and Ontario International airports.

Cargo tonnage has been rebounding for some time, but the August figures may have been helped by the prospect of a work stoppage at East and Gulf Coast ports that forced shippers to move up delivery dates so that retailers and other companies could stockpile their products. While the twin San Pedro Bay ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have handled much of this stockpiling, there may have been some additional cargo diverted to aircraft.

The port strikes turned out to be very short-lived as shipping companies and dockworkers reached a temporary agreement after just three days.