In that time, United Airlines and US Airways saw the steepest drops, at 45.79% and 41.29%, respectively, for a combined loss of 148,660 passengers compared with the same period last year, according to a report to the authority.
Southwest Airlines, the dominant carrier at Bob Hope Airport, saw a 5.9% decline.
Falling passenger numbers have meant shrinking revenue for the airport, which ended last fiscal year with a roughly $16-million cash surplus, officials said. Ending the year in the black allowed the authority to build “safety valves” into its budget for this fiscal year — valves that were used Monday to sap $14.8 million from the airport’s spending plan.
“There’s still a lot of uncertainty as to what will happen in the future,” Administrative Services Director Kathy David told the board.
Airport officials based revisions to the budget on conservative forecasts that assumed October’s “very telling” 16.5% passenger rate drop would continue through the fiscal year.
The airport authority voted to defer appropriating $4.98 million for 17 facility improvements that were previously ranked among the lowest-priority projects, including a vehicle maintenance facility, parking lot equipment, carpet replacement and other upgrades.
Other funding appropriations were reorganized in the budget, including a federally approved allocation of $7.4-million worth of passenger facility charges for the Terminal B baggage inspection area. The authority had assumed that it would have to cover the expense out of pocket, but the Federal Aviation Administration recently approved the airport’s application to tap the user-generated funds instead, officials said.
