April 10,2014
The number of passengers using area airports are up in February 2014.
LAX reports international traffic climbed 8.6% and domestic travel was up 5.5%. For all of 2013 passenger numbers climbed 4.7% to a record 17.8 million visitors.
In Fresno passenger traffic climbed near 5% in February compared to the same month a year before.The airport now has ten carriers. Last year the airport did a record business handling 1.4 million passengers. This summer non-stop service to Honolulu on Allegiant Air will return as of June.
The big news from Bakersfield is that Frontier Airlines announced it would launch a Bakersfield to Denver flight in May on a 138 seat Airbus.
At San Luis Obispo airport traffic in February grew 10.6% year-over-year. Officials here are still trying to lure United to start up a SLO to Denver flight.
Hampering expansion dreams are a nationwide pilot shortage particularly for smaller carriers. Critics blame the low pay offered these positions for the lack of new pilots.