John Wayne Traffic Returning to Normal

The number of passengers and flights at John Wayne Airport inched ever closer to normal in the fifth month since the terrorist attacks but remained slightly lower than last year, according to a monthly report released Friday.

The latest statistics show 552,496 passengers traveled through the airport in January, 2.8% fewer than the same period a year ago. The 6,959 commercial flights were a 3.5% drop from January 2001.

Airport officials said they are encouraged by the small but steady strides that have been made since the Sept. 11 hijackings that left passengers nationwide afraid to fly. The number of passengers passing through the airport plunged by about one-third in September.

“Every month our numbers are getting better and better,” airport spokeswoman Ann McCarley said. “People are starting to fly more and more. We’re not doing that bad.”

Like other regional airports, John Wayne is faring better than larger counterparts such as Los Angeles International, where cumbersome new security measures deter passengers.

“We’ve seen less impact,” McCarley said.

Commuter travel took the biggest hit, with the number of flights dropping last month to 517, a 44% decrease from the same month last year.

McCarley and commuter carriers downplayed the sharp decline, noting that United Express cut its service to Los Angeles nearly in half, from 15 round-trip flights to eight, in October.

David Clark, a spokesman for Sky West, which represents shuttle carriers at John Wayne, said demand has been steady since United slashed its flights.

“The cuts that took place were in direct response to what happened in September,” he said. “We’ve found that since we’ve made the change, there doesn’t seem to be a need for an increase [in flights]. But there doesn’t seem to be a need for a cut either.”

Since Sept. 11, county supervisors have required the airport to file monthly reports, including passenger volume, flight operations and security costs.

In December, officials estimated the airport’s loss as a result of the attacks at $10.4 million for 2001-02. To help recover, they proposed increasing parking rates and rents for hangars and aircraft storage.