Passenger traffic at three of the four airports serving Los Angeles County – Ontario International, Hollywood Burbank and Long Beach – soared to double-digit percentage gains over pre-pandemic levels in February. It was almost as if the pandemic never happened.

But the pandemic’s pall is still casting a shadow over the 800-pound gorilla of local airports: Los Angeles International. Domestic passenger traffic at LAX remains stuck at around 85% of pre-pandemic levels. International passenger traffic, while rebounding rapidly towards 2019’s peak, is still 5% short.

LAX’s lagging performance means that the total February passenger count at the four airports of about 6.46 million was still 8.6% below pre-pandemic Feb. 2019.

Meanwhile, there were mixed results for cargo tonnage handled at the four airports – really just LAX and Ontario, which together handle 98% of all the region’s air cargo. 

When compared to pre-pandemic 2019, February’s total of nearly 237,000 tons was nearly 10% higher – much more of a jump than had been recorded in previous months. But cargo tonnage was down more than 3% from the level of a year ago and more than 15% from the pandemic-induced 2021 peak.

Regional airports taking off 

Returning to the passenger tallies, both Ontario and Long Beach saw February counts more than 20% higher than the same month five years ago, before the pandemic hit: Ontario was up nearly 24% to just under 450,000, while Long Beach was up nearly 22% to 306,000.

“February proved to be another positive month for Ontario International as we extended our streak of consecutive months with higher passenger volume,” said Atif Elkadi, chief executive officer of the Ontario International Airport Authority. “The numbers speak for themselves and are further evidence that (Ontario) continues to be the airport of choice for Southern California.”

Hollywood Burbank also posted robust results in February, up more than 13% compared to five years ago to 417,000.

All three of these airports also grew their combined passenger count about 10% in February compared to the same month last year.

LAX lagging again on domestic front

At LAX, passenger tallies are on two different trajectories. The international count rose more than 21% in February to 1.64 million compared to the same month last year, while the domestic count rose just 2% to 3.64 million.

But at least for February, the year-over-year growth in domestic passengers was positive. In January, the rate turned negative due to hundreds of flight cancellations involving the Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft that were triggered by January’s in-flight blowout of a fuselage panel on an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland to Ontario International Airport.

Officials with Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that runs LAX, continue to project that international traffic will fully recover from pandemic-induced losses in the next few months. They note that flights have been added to Auckland, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Tokyo, among other destinations.

But domestic passenger traffic is another matter. The year-over-year growth rate has generally hovered in the low single digits for the better part of a year. 

And further signs of trouble loom: Last month, according to a CNBC report, New York-based carrier JetBlue Airways told its staff that it will be cutting its departures from LAX to 24 per day from the current 34. The carrier has resorted to cutting costs in the wake of its failed merger with Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Spirit Airlines. 

Nonetheless, Los Angeles World Airports officials are sticking with their rosy spring travel outlook.

“The year-over-year growth for April and May will be up by 4.3%, or 575,000 passengers,” said Doug Webster, interim chief operations and maintenance officer for the agency.