Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport shows slight increase in passengers
Bob Hope Airport in Burbank saw the number of passengers who passed through its gates rise slightly in May -- the second month this year to show an increase.
The airport handled 345,997 passengers in May, a 0.4% increase compared to 344,566 in May 2012, according to statistics released by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority last week.
This uptick came two months after a 0.27% increase in March, which was followed by a 2.4% drop in April. There were double-digit declines the first two months of the year.
Airport spokesman Victor Gill said it is too early to tell if May represented a new trend, and if so, whether it was due to specific actions by the air carriers or the impact of the improving economy.
“We can only observe [the airlines] are having success; we don’t really know the ‘why,’” he said. “We just have to keep watching.”
Dan Feger, the airport’s executive director, told the airport authority on Monday that the airport has pulled in more passengers than projected despite the fact that the number of flights has not increased.
“More people are flying on the same number of aircraft, or fewer, which is exactly what the airlines wanted,” Feger said.
During the first five months of 2013, roughly 1.59 million passengers passed through the airport, a 4.4% decline from roughly 1.66 million passengers during the same period last year.
Meanwhile, other airports in the region reported varying passenger totals in May. Los Angeles International Airport and John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana saw 4.9% and 7.8% increases, respectively. However, Ontario Airport reported a 9.3% decline, and Long Beach Airport saw a 12.6% drop.
Another bright spot for Bob Hope Airport in May was the continued rise in parking revenues, which increased by 6.5%. The airport brought in roughly $1.64 million in parking fees in May, compared with $1.54 million in May 2012.
Parking revenues were up despite a 1.45% decrease in the number of drivers parking in the airport’s lots, which Feger said was a sign that rate increases in the airport’s parking lots are continuing to work.
ALSO:
Fireworks firm expresses regrets
Is Alec Baldwin another Paula Deen?
La Jolla woman found dead on hiking trail
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
