Airport numbers slide for fifth month in a row

For the fifth month in a row, the number of passengers at Bob Hope Airport dropped below budget projections in July, decreasing by 3.3% compared to the same period last year, officials reported.

While the decline was not as bad as the previous four months — during which passenger rates tumbled by more than 5% each month — the downward trend continues to eat into airport revenues, according to a report issued this week.

Parking revenues, which track closely with the number of passengers using the airfield, were down 3% to $1.55 million in July, compared to $1.6 million during the same period last year.

At Bob Hope Airport, 371,837 passengers arrived or departed in July, compared with 384,647 passengers in July 2010, according to a report to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

The rates dipped 1% at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, but plummeted 9.6% at Ontario Airport.

Los Angeles International Airport, on the other hand, reported a 6.6% increase.

But efforts at airlines to cope with fewer passengers by decreasing the number of available seats to increase occupancy rates on jetliners appear to be working.

The number of available seats was cut 6.4% — from 567,168 seats in July 1010 to 530,700 seats this year, airport spokesman Victor Gill, said, pushing the occupancy rate up 2.2% to 70%.

So far this year, the airport has handled roughly 2.47 million passengers since January, a 4.4% drop from the same period last year.