John Wayne Airport Traffic Struggles to Take Flight

A Southwest Airlines jet lands at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif., on Oct. 18, 2020. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport (JWA) was reduced by 59 percent in March compared to pre-pandemic foot traffic during the same month.

The lag in March travelers is part of a larger, year-long trend triggered by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which brought the bulk of travel to a standstill.

“We saw passenger traffic drop to record lows, markets temporarily suspended, and commercial flights decrease significantly,” airport director Barry Rondinella said in a 2020 annual report.

The airport served 385,396 passengers in March 2021, compared with 337,981 travelers in March 2020, when the pandemic began to take hold.

Although this year’s figures were a year-over-year improvement, they’re 59 percent percent below pre-pandemic levels. JWA served 923,469 passengers in March 2019.

Flight operations did not decrease as significantly.

In March 2021, there were 25,021 total aircraft takeoffs and landings, compared with 26,107 takeoffs and landings in March 2019.