Airport spokesman Victor Gill said the numbers were in a “modestly positive territory” that continued a recent trend of diminishing declines.
“It continues the trend that we saw toward the end of last year of the declines getting smaller and smaller compared to the same month of the previous year,” he said.
During the same time last year, the airport was faced with drops in passenger counts of more than 20%.
The increase was driven by a nearly 14% increase of passengers on Alaska Airlines and a 16% growth at Horizon Air, its sister carrier.
JetBlue saw the biggest change, with a 9% drop in passenger numbers. Southwest, which accounts for about two-thirds of the airport’s flights, stayed steady compared with last year, with a passenger increase of less than 1% after experiencing a nearly 13% drop last year.
Gill attributed this year’s overall uptick to slowly increasing consumer confidence.
“I don’t think it’s really an action of the board,” Gill said. “It’s much more of a reflection of the economy, people’s willingness to spend money on travel.”
He also cited two Pasadena sporting events — the Rose Bowl and BCS National Championship Game — for bringing more people into the region.
Burbank’s figures mirror other airports in the region. Los Angeles International Airport passenger counts jumped about 8%, with numbers at Ontario International Airport remaining about steady compared to last year, according to their operator, Los Angeles World Airports.
Airport commissioner and Glendale Mayor Frank Quintero said the statistics were welcome news after months of double-digit declines.
“I hope that little by little we will recover our passenger load,” he said.
“It does appear like things are beginning to improve a bit.”
