John Wayne Airport expects just less than 10 million air passengers next year—an 8.7% increase over the expected 9.2 million this year, the airport said.
The passenger cap for both years is 10.8 million.
The boost will be fueled in part by 15 new flights from its largest carrier, Southwest Airlines. The Orange County Board of Supervisors recently approved 2015 flight requests by the nine airlines currently at the airport.
Southwest will have 67 flights from John Wayne if the airline phases in the entire request next year.
In August, the airline began flying to Cabo San Lucas from the airport on a route formerly operated by its AirTran subsidiary. It will do the same starting Nov. 2 on flights to Mexico City.
“Every year airlines plan their next year,” said airport spokesperson Jenny Wedge. “Southwest will add flights between January and December, with either new routes or additional flights to current locations.”
The airport allocates seats instead of passengers and keeps requests below the maximum levels to allow for changes during the year.
“We monitor flights and passenger numbers,” Wedge said. “If they trend higher, we can work with them.”
The new Airport Amendment to its 1985 Settlement Agreement governing John Wayne operations for the next 20 years and approved by the Supervisors last month goes to the Newport Beach City Council for consideration tomorrow.
