The recovery in passenger traffic at local airports continued in October, with the total passenger tally coming within 15% of pre-pandemic levels for the first time.
Nearly 7.3 million passengers went through the gates in October at the four airports serving Los Angeles County: Los Angeles International (LAX), Ontario International, Hollywood Burbank and Long Beach. That was down exactly 15% from pre-pandemic Oct. 2019, though up 20% from October of last year.
LAX had 5.88 million passengers in October, down 18.3% from Oct. 2019. The recovery was strongest in international passenger traffic, with the October tally of 1.5 million passengers roughly double the same month last year.
To put these figures in perspective, in Oct. 2020, passenger traffic at LAX was down 71% from the same month in 2019, with international traffic plunging 85%.
“The fall travel season already is taking off at the highest levels since 2019, and LAX is ready to welcome even more passengers into the winter holidays,” said Justin Erbacci, chief executive with Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that runs LAX.
According to preliminary November travel data from the federal Transportation Security Administration as relayed by LAWA, about 2.67 million passengers went through TSA screening centers at LAX on their way to board aircraft.
Regional airports taking off
Among the other three regional airports, both Ontario and Burbank continued to exceed pre-pandemic passenger counts in October, with the overall tally of 1.4 million at the three regional airports running about 2.5% ahead of the same month in 2019.
Ontario saw 542,000 passengers, up more than 7% from Oct. 2019 and nearly 10% from October of last year. Burbank’s tally of 558,000 was up about 1% from the same month in 2019 and 20% from October of last year.
“Air travelers and our airline partners continued to show tremendous confidence in Ontario International in October, as our airport recorded the highest number of passengers in a single month since we took ownership six years ago” (from LAWA), Alan Wapner, board president of the Ontario International Airport Authority, said in the airport’s announcement of the October data.
Long Beach Airport retained the title of biggest year-over-year percentage gainer in passengers, with its October tally of nearly 295,000 passengers up 34% from the same month last year.
“We continue to see strong demand for the easygoing and convenient experience we offer at LGB,” Long Beach Airport Director Cynthia Guidry said in a statement.
