Passenger traffic growth at the four airports serving Los Angeles County was a mixed bag in April, with Ontario International and Long Beach airports continuing to soar while Los Angeles International and Hollywood Burbank airports saw sluggish growth.
Long Beach Airport – the smallest of the four airports – led the way with 15% growth in passengers in April compared to the same month last year. The total of nearly 350,000 passengers was also about 18% above pre-pandemic April 2019’s tally.
“Following record-breaking passenger traffic in March, strong numbers from spring break travelers continued to keep April’s figures well above previous years, indicating that we’re heading toward a bustling summer season,” airport Director Cynthia Guidry said.
Most of this growth was due to dominant carrier, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co., continuing to add flights to fill out its allotments under the airport’s flight slot program.
Ontario International continued its robust recovery from the pandemic in April. Its total of 573,000 passengers was about 9% above the same month last year and 19% above pre-pandemic April 2019.
Atif Elkadi, chief executive of Ontario International’s governing authority, acknowledged the strong growth in April and said he expects the growth to continue for the rest of the year.
“As our airport continues to gain in popularity among air passengers, our airline partners are adding new routes and expanding existing services, all of which bodes well for air travel through the Inland Empire for the remainder of the year,” Elkadi said.
Sluggish growth at LAX, Burbank
Meanwhile, LAX – by far the largest airport in the region – is continuing to struggle as it tries to grow its overall passenger tally. Domestic passenger traffic, which makes up the lion’s share of the total, barely budged in April compared to the same month last year, recording a slight loss of 0.06%, representing a fall to 4.25 million. Compared to pre-pandemic April 2019, domestic passenger traffic at LAX in April was down 17%. In previous months, it had been running about 15% behind pre-pandemic levels.
Doug Webster, interim chief operations and maintenance officer with Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that runs LAX, had previously said flight planning adjustments by the airlines were on net negatively impacting the number of domestic flights at LAX.
For most of the past 18 months, international passenger traffic has been the star performer at LAX with double-digit year-over-year growth. But that star may be beginning to fade: in April, the total of 1.91 million international passengers passing through the gates at LAX was only 9% above last year’s level and is still running about 10% short of pre-pandemic April 2019.
Some of this growth slowdown may have been inevitable: after Covid-related flight bans were lifted in late 2021 and into 2022, international air carriers rushed to restore flights to LAX. That rush may be ending and annual growth rates may return to the low-single-digit levels that prevailed before the pandemic struck.
Nonetheless, the 9% year-over-year growth in international passenger traffic was enough to propel overall growth at LAX in April past the 2% mark. That was significantly higher than the 0.3% growth rate at Hollywood Burbank Airport to 508,000.
Cargo volumes rise
The picture was a little brighter on the air cargo front as total air cargo tonnage in April at the four airports hit 258,000 metric tons, up more than 5% from the same month last year. That reverses a drop of nearly 5% in March compared to last year.
LAX and Ontario make up 98% of total air cargo tonnage at the four airports.
But in the big picture, air cargo tonnage at the airports remains about even with pre-pandemic levels as the pandemic-induced cargo surge at LAX and Ontario now recedes further into memory.
