Passenger decline contrasts with increased aircraft operations at John Wayne Airport

Airports

Airbus A380 | Airbus

By Sky Industry News

Nov 25, 2024

John Wayne Airport has released its passenger and aircraft operations statistics for October 2024. The report reveals a decline in the total number of passengers compared to the same period last year, alongside an increase in overall aircraft operations.

The airport handled 930,049 total passengers in October 2024, marking an 8.5% decrease from the 1,015,935 passengers recorded in October 2023. Enplaned passengers totaled 459,753, down by 8.8%, while deplaned passengers were at 470,296, showing an 8.1% decrease from the previous year.

Year-to-date figures show a similar trend with a total of 9,264,758 passengers so far in 2024, which is a drop of 6.5% from the same period in 2023 when there were 9,910,699 passengers.

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In contrast to passenger numbers, aircraft operations saw significant growth. Total aircraft operations increased by 39.1% to reach 35,115 operations in October compared to the previous year's figure of 25,252. General aviation led this rise with a substantial increase of 60.2%, totaling 26,782 operations.

Commercial flights experienced a slight decrease of 4.1%, amounting to 7,818 operations compared to October last year. Meanwhile, commuter flights rose by an impressive rate of 31.8%.

Military operations more than doubled with a reported increase of over one hundred percent compared to last year's numbers.

Air cargo tonnage decreased by 17% from October last year’s figure with current reports showing September's data as well: all-cargo carriers transported approximately "1,140 tons" while passenger carriers moved "76 tons" of incidental belly cargo.

Internationally, John Wayne Airport saw an increase in passenger traffic with international travelers rising by "4.5%" for October compared to the previous year’s statistics; however on a yearly basis these figures indicate a slight decline overall for international travel when comparing year-to-date data.