For the first time since the pandemic hit, the total passenger count at the four airports serving Los Angeles County fell in November compared to the same month a year earlier, due in large part to a quirk in the calendar.
In November, a total of 7.43 million passengers went through the gates at Los Angeles International, Ontario International, Hollywood Burbank, and Long Beach airports in November, down 1.9% from November 2023. Passenger counts dropped at LAX and Long Beach, offsetting increases at Ontario and Burbank.
A key reason for the drop: this past November did not include the Sunday after Thanksgiving – traditionally the busiest air travel day of the entire year – as that day fell on Dec. 1. Because the year-over-year totals were already running at nearly flat levels, that one missing day was enough to push the November totals down compared to the same month in 2023 that did include the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
On the positive side, December passenger numbers should show more of an increase than would normally be expected, since that month this time included the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
Weak showing for domestic passengers at LAX
Long Beach Airport had the largest percentage drop in passengers in November compared to the same month the previous year: 335,000 passengers went through the gates for a decline of 3.6%.
LAX also posted a significant drop in November. A total of 5.93 million passengers went through the terminal gates, down 2.9% from the same month in 2023.
As has been the case all year, domestic passenger traffic at LAX was weakest, with a drop of 4.4% in November compared to the same month in 2023. International passenger traffic rose a mere 0.8%.
Ontario International and Hollywood Burbank airports, on the other hand, posted virtually identical percentage gains in passenger tallies of nearly 4.4% in November compared to the same month in 2023. Those gains would have been larger if not for the shifting of the busy Sunday after Thanksgiving air travel day into December.
“Month after month, Ontario (International) continues to prove why it’s Southern California’s go-to airport for both passenger travel and cargo operations, and we are ready to handle even more and meet the growing needs of our community,” said Atif Elkadi, chief executive of the Ontario International Airport Authority.
Comparing the airport passenger totals in November with pre-pandemic November 2019, the overall total was still down nearly 8%. But that reflects a sharp dichotomy: the three regional airports of Ontario, Burbank and Long Beach collectively posted a 12.5% gain in November compared to the same month five years earlier, while LAX remains nearly 12% below pre-pandemic levels.
Due to the prolonged slump in domestic passenger traffic, LAX has never come back to within single-digit percentage levels of pre-pandemic counts. In July, John Ackerman, the new chief executive at Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates the airport, formed a unit that aims to boost the number of passenger flights.
Cargo volumes up slightly
The quirk of the calendar did not negatively impact air cargo operations at the airports. Both LAX and Ontario – which together handle 98% of the region’s air cargo – saw gains in November compared to the same month in 2023.
Overall, more than 275,000 metric tons of air cargo was handled at the four airports in November, up 1.8% from the same month in 2023. LAX, which handles nearly two-thirds of the air cargo, eked out a 1% increase, while Ontario notched a nearly 5% gain.
For months now, the 2024 air cargo totals have been running just a little ahead of pre-pandemic levels, though they are down double-digit percentages from the pandemic-induced air cargo surge in 2021.
