Aircraft Operations at John Wayne Jump in January

Total aircraft operations at John Wayne Airport (SNA) jumped 36% with 33,073 flights recorded last month.  

General aviation activity made up 75% of total operations and increased 52% to 24,817 flights in January.  

The Costa Mesa airport reported a total of 841,879 passengers in January, up 3.4% compared to a year ago. International traffic is still down with a 15% drop in passengers compared to last year.  

Commercial flights in January rose 1.2% to 7,487 while commuter operations, or scheduled flights on planes with fewer than 70 seats, increased 30% to 764 compared with 2025 levels. 

The three busiest airlines by passenger count last month were Southwest Airlines at 220,012, American Airlines with 147,086 and Alaska Airlines at 137,213. 

For more JWA passenger news, read Mark Mueller’s Insider column on March 2.