The recovery at local airports from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic continued last year, though at a slower pace.
More than 91 million passengers went through the gates at the four airports serving Los Angeles County last year, up nearly 13% from 2022 but still nearly 12% short of the record 103 million passengers in pre-pandemic 2019. The growth rate was down substantially from the 39% passenger growth between 2021 and 2022.
But these topline figures belied a widening split in the fortunes of local airports. The three outlying regional airports – Ontario International, Hollywood Burbank and Long Beach – have all recovered from the pandemic, with Ontario zooming 15% past pre-pandemic levels.
But behemoth Los Angeles International Airport, despite posting a 14% gain last year from 2022, is still 15% short of its pre-pandemic mark, due mostly to a slowing rebound in domestic passenger traffic.
As a result, the four-airport system has had the weakest recovery to date among peer metro airport systems in Atlanta, Chicago and New York.
Meanwhile, Dallas, Texas-based Southwest Airlines Co. maintained its position atop carriers serving the region’s airports, thanks to increases in flights out of Long Beach and LAX.
Southwest carried a total of 16.7 million passengers last year into and out of the four airports, up more than 8% from 2022. Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. was next at 15.9 million.
Ontario takeoff
Ontario was the first of the four local airports to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels in mid-2022. Last year, the airport’s growth accelerated past that mark; its total of 6.4 million passengers was the highest since the 7.2 million posted in 2007, before the Great Recession and years of limited marketing under the Los Angeles World Airports regime took their toll.
“The year-end numbers demonstrate why (Ontario) is California’s favorite airport among airline passengers,” Alan Wapner, president of the Ontario International Airport…
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