Airport officials reported yesterday that total passenger volume at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for 2011 increased 4.7 percent with 61,862,052 passengers, compared with 59,070,127 passengers in 2010. There was a 4.6 percent growth in domestic passengers to 45,130,728 from 43,134,145 in 2010. International traffic grew by 4.9 percent to 16,731,324 passengers from 15,935,982 in 2010.
Total air cargo tonnage dropped 3.8 percent to 1,853,658 from 1,926,825 in 2010. Air mail tonnage rose 8.6 percent to 80,442 tons from 74,034 tons in 2010. Freight (goods) decreased 4.2 percent to 1,773,215 tons from 1,852,791 tons in 2010.
The number of aircraft operations (landings and takeoffs) increased 4.8 percent to 603,912 in 2011 from 575,835 in 2010.
“The increased passenger activity at LAX is attributable to several things: new international service (Istanbul, Madrid, Tokyo/Haneda, and additional frequencies to Beijing, Shanghai and Dubai); an improving Asian economy; and a modest, but perceptible strengthening of the Southern California economy,” said Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, the Los Angeles City department that owns and operates LAX and two other Southern California airports. She added, “While LAX has not come close to seeing its pre-9/11 traffic of 67 million passengers, the 2010 activity demonstrates a stronger travel demand than we’ve seen in several years. The drop in cargo activity is somewhat puzzling. We need to dissect the numbers and understand underlying causes.”
