JWA numbers down

Airline passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport was down nearly 10% in 2008 from the previous year, numbers released Wednesday show.

About 8.9 million passengers passed through John Wayne in 2008, compared with about 9.9 million in 2007, the statistics show.

“The market has a way of taking care of some problems,” said Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach.

Concerned about airport growth and the noisy passenger jets, residents who live around John Wayne have long lobbied to keep passenger levels at or below 10.8 million.

The bankruptcy and subsequent shuttering of the Hawaiian air carrier Aloha Airlines accounted for a large part of slumping passenger levels, said Jenny Wedge, a spokeswoman for John Wayne Airport.

Aloha Airlines ended service from John Wayne on March 31 after the airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The carrier flew six flights a day out of John Wayne, which accounted for about 5% of John Wayne’s daily operations, Wedge said.

“We never filled those slots, so that accounts for about half of the decrease,” she said.

High jet fuel prices over the summer, which translated into higher ticket prices, and a slumping economy also meant fewer people were traveling in 2008, Wedge said.

Some airlines cut routes, or offered fewer flights in 2008 to compensate.

John Wayne allocates passenger seating to air carriers on an annual basis and a few airlines gave seats back last year.

American Eagle Airlines returned 30,000 seats from its annual seating allotment at John Wayne last fall and SkyWest Airlines returned 12,000 seats, Wedge said.

“This may have been due to changing their flight frequencies or simply not having the demand by passengers,” Wedge said.

American Airlines ended nonstop service between Orange County and Austin, Texas, earlier this year, and Alaska Airlines dropped flights between John Wayne and Oakland in April. Fewer people flew during the holiday season as well. Passenger numbers were down about 6% for December 2008 from the previous year, the statistics show.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].