Air Travel Still Weak as Wary Tourists Spend Money Close to Home

By Deborah Belgum

Staff Reporter

When it comes to getting out, Angelenos are staying home.

Two sets of figures show air travel to and from L.A. is down, while attendance at local theme parks and other attractions has climbed.

The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau reported only 4.2 million travelers passed through LAX in January compared with 5.1 million in January 2001, an 18.3 percent drop.

But visits to local attractions, such as Universal Studios Hollywood and Six Flags Magic Mountain, climbed 24.2 percent in January over the like-period in 2001, due in part to special promotions and dry weather. Likewise, museum attendance in January was up 1.4 percent over January 2001.

“When you look at the numbers over time they are improving,” said David Sheatsley, the bureau’s director of research. The increases at area attractions, he said, are from travelers who opted to stay at home rather than hop on planes and head out of town.

February may see the same mixed results. Preliminary hotel occupancy rates are down 8 to 15 percent over February 2001. LAX passenger traffic figures for February won’t be released until late March.

While passenger traffic at LAX has remained off since the Sept. 11 attacks, several airlines plan to slowly reinstate many of the flights they cut last fall.

United Airlines, the largest carrier at the Los Angeles airport, cut by 40 percent the number of flights the company flew in and out of LAX. Before the terrorist attack, United had 190 daily departures from LAX. After the attacks, that shrunk to 104. By early June, however, United will boost its LAX service to 123 flights a day.