Airport numbers continue to slide

BOB HOPE AIRPORT — As businesses continue to slash deflated travel budgets, the number of passengers at Bob Hope Airport in June fell 17.2% compared to the same period last year, according to the latest figures.

The month of June saw 401,521 passengers, 83,566 fewer compared with the same period last year, dragging the year-to-date total down 18.3% to 2.27 million travelers, according to a report presented Monday to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

While not unexpected, the June figures represent the latest round of bitter news for the airport. April marked the first time in six months that the dip remained below 20%, prompting some airport executives to speculate that, along with the economy, business and leisure travel was on the rebound.

April’s 10.4% decrease was the lowest since last June, when the number of passengers dropped 9.51% from 2007. But figures recorded over the last two months fall well short of indicating a turnaround.

The number of commercial airline passengers at Bob Hope Airport in May dropped off 18% from the same period last year with most carriers experiencing steep declines. Numbers for March mirrored those of January and February, when passenger totals decreased 20.57% and 21.62%, respectively, compared with 2008. Statistics show declines every month since April 2008, with double-digit drops recorded every month since July 2008.

“It’s been awfully quiet out there,” Commissioner Joyce Streator said.

Passenger traffic for Southwest Airlines, which accounts for two-thirds of the airport’s operations, was down 13.24% to 1.52 million travelers compared with last year.

Ridership at other Bob Hope Airport carriers was also down, albeit at varying levels. American Airlines passenger counts were down 2.5%; at JetBlue, the drop was 46.2%.

A series of surveys conducted over June and July on Bob Hope passengers indicate that business and leisure travel will see an uptick, most of it coming when the economy recovers, according to results presented to the authority Monday. The profile of a typical Burbank airport passenger skews older and wealthier, according to the surveys, with a majority of the 474 surveyed falling between the ages of 40 and 59 and earning more than $80,000.

Survey results show about 70% of passengers taking a “wait and see” approach on travel increasing or decreasing in the next 12 months, with business travelers likely to respond more rapidly to an economic upswing with more travel.

Given the state of the economy, the majority of leisure and business respondents said their travel budgets would either decrease or remain flat through next year. At the same time, the majority of business travelers said they planned to fly more.

“We know that some of the business travel may not return because of teleconferencing and other advances,” Commissioner Charles Lombardo said. “You got to have some business to do [to spend money on business travel]. Depending on what you sell, you have to get face-to-face with your clients. That won’t change.”