Long Beach Airport traffic dropped 12% in December to 298,000 passengers, while traffic for the full year increased 2.7% to 3.9 million.
JetBlue Airways represented 60% of total December traffic, carrying 176,000 passengers, down 34% from the year prior. Southwest flew 80,000 people, up 82% from last December and 27% of the total.
Hawaiian Airlines carried about 10,000 passengers—a number that’s held steady since it began service in June—and the other two airlines, American and Delta, carried the remaining 32,000 passengers.
For the full year, JetBlue represented 72% of total traffic with 2.8 million annual passengers; Southwest carried 663,000 passengers, or 17% of the share; and the remaining three carriers made up the final 11% of the 3.9 million customers.
Cargo carrying by FedEx and UPS dropped 19% in the month to about 2,200 tons. Total cargo in 2018 was down 6% to 21,000 tons compared to the year prior.
Charter flying was down 48% to 109 passengers last month.
2018 was the last full year of service by Airport Director Jess Romo, who retires at the end of this month after two years at the helm; a replacement hasn’t been named.
