Airline traffic increases

Airline passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport rose slightly last month for the first time in more than a year, signaling what could be the beginning of the end of a long downward trend, airport officials said.

John Wayne served 833,962 passengers in August, compared with 833,655 passengers in August 2008, marking an increase of 0.04%, according to new statistics released by the airport this week.

“Hopefully, this is a sign things are turning around a little bit,” said Jenny Wedge, a spokeswoman for the airport. “It may not increase a lot next month, or it may go down — it’s hard to say.”

Part of the modest increase in passenger levels might be attributed to the arrival of Virgin America at John Wayne, Wedge said. The airline began service from John Wayne in April with five daily flights from Orange County to San Francisco.

Southwest Airlines also has added new flights to San Francisco from John Wayne and has increased flights to a few other locations, Wedge said.

Air Canada also has expressed interest at beginning service from John Wayne. The international carrier’s jets cleared noise level tests at the airport last year. John Wayne officials hope Air Canada will begin service out of the airport by April next year, Wedge said.

However, total volume of air passengers at John Wayne through 2009 to date is down 7% from 2008. So far this year, the airport has served about 5.7 million passengers, compared to about 6.2 million passengers at this time last year, according to the new statistics.

Passenger levels at John Wayne dropped nearly 10% in 2008 from 2007. About 8.9 million passengers passed through John Wayne in 2008, compared with about 9.9 million in 2007, according to the statistics.

While a boost in passenger levels might be good news for the local economy, it reminds the John Wayne Airport watchdog AirFair to be vigilant about airport issues, said the group’s president Melinda Seeley.

The group wants to see passenger levels at John Wayne permanently capped at 10.8 million per year, in part because of noise caused by airplanes flying above residential areas.

“With the economy hopefully turning around, I think we will see more people who are going to be able to travel,” Seeley said. “What we’d like to see is fewer flights, not more flights.