The four airports serving Los Angeles County turned in mixed results in January passenger totals.
Los Angeles International and Ontario International saw increases of 0.8% and 3.7% respectively, while Hollywood Burbank and Long Beach saw slight drops of 1.5% and 1.4%.
Overall, more than 6.7 million passengers passed through the gates at the four airports in January, up 0.8% from January last year. This marks the first time since December 2024 that this cumulative passenger total at the four airports rose on a year-over-year basis, even if only slightly.
The passenger tallies in January of last year were impacted by the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires as some tourists postponed trips or chose other destinations. That left significant room for improvement in this January’s passenger counts.
Ontario biggest gainer; LAX turnaround
Passenger traffic at Ontario International rose 3.7% in January compared with the same month last year, by far the bigger gain of the two airports in positive territory. In an unusual twist, that increase was driven entirely by a huge 64% gain in international passengers off a much smaller base a year ago. That more than offset a drop of nearly 2% in domestic passenger traffic.
“Our passenger level last month was the highest for any January since the airport’s return to local ownership in 2016,” Atif Elkadi, chief executive of the Ontario International Airport Authority, said in the airport’s
data release.
While the increase was bigger in magnitude at Ontario, the 0.8% increase at LAX may signal a more dramatic change. That’s because LAX monthly passenger totals have fallen year-over-year for every single month since December 2024, leaving the airport some 18% below pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
Among the country’s major airports, LAX has lagged the most by far in the effort to recover fully from the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of those other airports have either recovered in full or have come very close to doing so.
Several factors may have contributed to declining passenger counts at LAX last year, including the fires, its lack of a major airline hub and a softening of the Asian travel market.
In January, though, a recovery in domestic passenger travel led the way at LAX with a 1.4% increase in passengers compared with January of last year. In a reversal of recent trends, international traffic was down, though by only 0.4%.
Burbank, Long Beach down
On the flip side, passenger traffic was down by more than 1% at both Hollywood Burbank and Long Beach airports, though for different reasons.
At Hollywood Burbank, the 1.5% drop in passengers was due to the impacts of restructuring of two airlines and a gap until added flights from other airlines can plug the holes.
Dania Beach, Florida-based Spirit Airlines Inc. has endured a bankruptcy and restructuring after a failed merger attempt with New York-based JetBlue Airways.
As a result, the airline has sold hundreds of planes and cut scores of routes across the country. And Houston-based Avelo Airlines Inc. announced last year it was closing its West Coast hub at Burbank, exiting the airport entirely.
The combination of these restructurings has cost the airport tens of thousands of passengers each month. The picture should brighten for Hollywood Burbank Airport later this year as five airlines – Seattle-based Alaska Airlines Inc., Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air, Cottonwood, Utah-based Breeze Airways, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. and JetBlue – have previously announced a total of 11 added flight routes over the next seven months.
Meanwhile, Long Beach Airport remains tied to the fortunes of Southwest, which accounts for nearly 90% of passengers at the municipal airport.
Over the past year, Southwest has instituted major changes – such as the end of open seating and new fees on checked baggage – that have prompted many travelers to drop their loyalty to the airline.
The result is that for most of the second half of last year and into this January, Long Beach Airport has experienced year-over-year drops in passenger tallies. January’s drop was 1.4%.
