Hollywood Burbank Airport sees smaller bump in passengers
Hollywood Burbank Airport reported a slight slowdown in the growth in passenger numbers in February, with a relatively flat 1.1% bump compared to the same month in 2016. The airfield has been handling much larger passenger increases for several months.
There were 302,575 passengers in February, which was 3,215 more than the previous year, said Mark Hardyment, the airfield’s director of governmental and environmental affairs during a Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority meeting on Monday.
The cause for the less-than-stellar performance, Hardyment said, could be attributed to two factors. Last February was a leap year, he said, which could have a negative impact on this year’s statistics in comparison. Also, there were a few days in February when multiple airlines had to cancel flights due to the winter rain storms in California.
Despite the small gain in February over the same month last year, Hardyment said demand for flights in and out of Hollywood Burbank is still strong.
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United Airlines improved the most in February out of the six airlines at the local airport, reporting 20,143 passengers, which was 2,407 more than in 2016. Delta Air Lines had a similar hike, tallying 8,054 passengers, an increase of 2,084 passengers from last year.
American Airlines reported a modest rise, with 12,554 passengers for the month, just 716 more than the previous year. Southwest Airlines, the largest airline operating at Hollywood Burbank, showed a small increase, with 225,133 passengers, only 250 more than in 2016.
Alaska Airlines took a small hit to its passenger figures, reporting 30,074 passengers for February, which was 1,777 fewer than the year before. JetBlue Airways also had fewer passengers — 6,617, a dip of 465 passengers compared to last year.
Excluding the parking structure and ride-sharing pick-ups and drop-offs, the airport generated about $1.05 million in parking revenue in February, about $113,000 less than last year, said Denis Carvill, the airfield’s deputy executive director of engineering, maintenance, operations and airline relations.
He added that the parking structure generated about $292,000 in revenue, which does not take into account the $3 tickets that ride-sharing companies have to pay the airport.
Though the airport’s parking lots are making less money, the deficit is offset by the revenue collected from ride-sharing companies. Carvill said there was about $133,000 generated from passenger drop-offs and pick-ups.
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
