The long route back to pre-pandemic passenger travel levels at local airports hit some headwinds in August.
Roughly 7.4 million passengers went through the gates in August at the four airports serving Los Angeles County: Los Angeles International, Ontario International, Hollywood Burbank and Long Beach. That was down 22% from pre-pandemic August 2019, the largest such shortfall since March.
Only one airport – Ontario International – managed to surpass 2019 levels, and even then just barely, as its 511,000 passengers in August was up only 1.4% from August 2019.
“Ontario International continues to rank among the fastest-recovering airports in the United States, serving one of the most dynamic population and economic centers anywhere,” Alan Wapner, president of the Ontario International Airport Authority Board of Commissioners and mayor pro tem of the city of Ontario, said in a statement.
Burbank Airport, which had been running ahead of 2019 levels for the last few months, slipped back into shortfall mode in August, with its 533,000 passengers down 4% from the same month in 2019.
Long Beach Airport fell further behind its pre-pandemic level, as its 293,000 passenger count for August was off nearly 10% from the same month in 2019.
LAX, meanwhile, continued to serve as a drag on the local airport recovery. Nearly 6.1 million passengers went through the gates at LAX in August, down 25% from August 2019. That’s the same percentage shortfall as in July.
What’s more, all four airports saw passenger counts drop slightly between July and August, the first time that’s happened since January’s sharp falloff from December’s holiday travel peak. Some of the falloff may be due to the lack of a major holiday such as July’s Independence Day. Also, this summer, thousands of flights nationwide were canceled due to staffing shortages and more severe weather shutting airports.
International’s recovery
One of the few bright spots was the continued rapid recovery in international travel at LAX. More than 1.7 million international passengers went through gates at LAX in August, up 87% from August of last year. Domestic travel, on the other hand, climbed about 4%.
“Throughout the summer months, international traffic continued to show strong growth and we saw overall robust passenger numbers compared to the same time last year,” Justin Erbacci, chief executive with Los Angeles World Airports – the city agency that runs LAX – said in a statement on the release of the August data.
Despite this impressive year-over-year performance, international travel at LAX was down 29% from August 2019.
Looking ahead, Erbacci said the combination of international air carriers restoring routes to LAX and launching a new service to the airport bodes well for coming months.
“With … new routes to international destinations coming online, we are optimistic that we will see continued growth in passenger numbers into the fall and winter holiday months,” he said.
Cargo
Air cargo handled at the four airports serving Los Angeles County was also a mixed picture in August.
Overall, crews handled 300,000 metric tons of cargo at the four airports in August, down 6% from August of last year.
The decline was mostly due to a 9% drop to 224,000 metric tons of air cargo handled at LAX in August compared with the same month last year.
Last summer, though, saw record levels of congestion in cargo at the nearby ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, prompting some cargo shippers to switch to air cargo for the most urgently needed items. In addition, LAX was handling a surge in shipments of Covid vaccines that had limited shelf life.
On the other hand, Ontario International saw a 5% increase in cargo tonnage in August to 72,000 tons compared to last year.
“Ontario International continues to be Southern California’s hub for commercial freight movement, which speaks well of our modern facilities and intention to drive regional economic activity,” Wapner said in a statement.
Over the last 15 months, the airport has received more than $23 million from the Federal Aviation Administration for taxiway, runway and other improvements; some of that work is aimed at speeding the flow of cargo through the airport.
Both Burbank and Long Beach airports reported drops year over year in air cargo tonnage handled in August, led by a 23% plunge at Burbank. But together, those airports handled about 4,000 metric tons of air cargo, a figure dwarfed by the 296,000 metric tons handled at LAX and Ontario.
