February passenger traffic at Los Angeles International Airport eked out a slight gain of 22,000, or 0.4 percent, from January to reach 6.07 million and is up 0.8 percent on the year to 12.83 million, according to figures released by the airport’s governing authority on March 27.
The statistics from Los Angeles World Airports, the agency administering LAX, show domestic passenger traffic rising 1.4 percent to 4.33 million in February compared to January and up 1.6 percent to 9.02 million year-to-date. International traffic, however, declined 2 percent in February to 1.73 million from January and is down 0.9 percent to 3.81 million year-to-date.
The winter months of January and February are typically slower for travel after the crush of travel during the holiday season. Also, the unusually wet winter in the western U.S. may have prompted discretionary travelers to alter their plans.
Air cargo tonnage showed a more significant drop in February, falling 7.6 percent to just under 160,000 tons. For the year-to-date, air cargo is off nearly 5 percent from last year with a total of nearly 342,000 tons.
Education, energy, engineering/construction and infrastructure reporter Howard Fine can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @howardafine.
