Local airports encountered some turbulence in August on their long route back to pre-pandemic passenger and cargo levels.

The four airports serving Los Angeles County – Los Angeles International, Ontario International, Hollywood-Burbank and Long Beach – saw 8.4 million passengers go through their terminal gates in August. While that was up 13% from the same month last year, it was down from 8.8 million in July and still nearly 12% short of the 9.5 million passengers recorded in pre-pandemic Aug. 2019.

Meanwhile, cargo tonnage levels continued to fall in August at the four airports, dropping nearly 12% from the same month last year and down nearly 2% from 2019.

On the passenger front, while Los Angeles International continues to be the biggest drag on the recovery of local airports to pre-pandemic levels, Hollywood Burbank Airport was the worst performer in August. It was the only local airport to record a drop in passenger counts year over year, with its roughly 515,000 passengers down more than 3% from August of last year. The airport also slipped more than 7% below pre-pandemic Aug. 2019.

Burbank passenger counts have suffered in part due to lingering problems with Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co., the dominant carrier handling roughly 70% of all passengers using the airport.

“Southwest Airlines continues to struggle with issues that started during the storms last winter and continued with operational problems through spring and into summer,” Hollywood-Burbank Airport Commissioner Bud Ovrom said in a commission meeting highlight report that he and two fellow commissioners sent to Burbank city officials last month.

That highlight report noted that Southwest has now had five consecutive months with the 2023 monthly total being below the same month in pre-pandemic 2019 and post-pandemic 2022.

On the flip side, Ontario International continued to be the standout performer in August – its 567,000-passenger tally was 11% above the same month last year and more than 12% above pre-pandemic August 2019. Ontario was the only one of the four local airports to exceed August 2019 passenger counts, quite a shift from earlier in the year when three of the four airports surpassed pre-pandemic totals.

“Demand for air travel through Ontario International remained strong in August and for the year, outpacing growth at other California airports, while consumer confidence in our facilities, services and amenities was equally strong,” said Atif Elkadi, chief executive of the Ontario International Airport Authority.

As for Los Angeles International, August saw the continued divergent trajectories of international and domestic travel. International travel once again posted robust year-over-year growth, up nearly 24% in August to 2.1 million compared to the same month last year. That growth rate puts international travel on a trajectory to reach pre-pandemic levels sometime during the first half of next year, though it appears travel to and from some international destinations has recovered already.

“We continue to experience improvements in international traffic with flights to Mexico, Central and South America fully recovered (to pre-pandemic levels),” said Michael Christensen, chief operations and maintenance officer for Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that runs LAX. “We expect flights to Europe to also reach pre-pandemic levels by this winter.”

Domestic passenger travel, on the other hand, is recovering more slowly. The nearly 4.9 million domestic passengers that passed through LAX terminal gates in August was up 12% from the same month last year, but is still about 15% short of pre-pandemic Aug. 2019. Many carriers this year scaled back their flights after last year’s rush to return to the skies led to an overburdened system with frequent delays and flight cancellations.

Long Beach Airport posted more modest year-over-year growth in passengers, with August’s tally of nearly 310,000 coming in just about 5% above last year. The passenger count was about 5% below Aug. 2019. The municipal airport is now almost exclusively a Southwest Airlines operation; the carrier has 86% of the flight slots and handles about 90% of the passengers.

Cargo’s continued slump

Cargo tonnage at the four airports serving Los Angeles County continued to plunge, with the cumulative total now hovering just below pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

The four airports combined handled roughly 266,000 metric tons in August, down more than 11% from last year and nearly 2% from the same month in 2019.

Los Angeles International and Ontario International airports together handle roughly 98% of the cargo passing through the four airports.

At LAX, cargo tonnage dropped 11% in August to 200,000 compared to a year ago, though that tally was 1% higher than the same month in 2019.

That’s a much different picture than two years ago, when surges in pandemic-related deliveries and cargo diversions from the clogged ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach pushed the total tonnage at LAX nearly 20% above pre-pandemic Aug. 2019.

“Our cargo volume is leveling off at numbers similar to 2019, after we saw tremendous, temporary growth during the pandemic due to airlines repurposing passenger planes for cargo, challenges with seaports and the transport of (personal protective equipment) products,” Justin Erbacci, the exiting Los Angeles World Airports chief executive, said in an earlier interview in August.

At Ontario, the cargo trend was entirely down in August, dropping 13% to 62,000 metric tons compared to the same month last year and falling 7% from 2019.