-October 20,2022-
San Luis Obispo airport traffic in September was up 35% from the same month in 2021 and higher than pre-pandemic numbers in 2019 as well. September saw 49,531 passengers use the new terminal in San Luis Obispo – bound for at least 6 cities served by three airlines.
The airport has seen high number all year as Covid spread has gone down.
For the same month in 2019 prior to the pandemic, the terminal saw 46,488 passengers- some 3000 fewer than this September.
The airport is served by United, American and Alaska -all of who are reporting better traffic across their US networks.This September, Alaska passenger numbers out of SLO were up 24.7%, American up 36% and United up 39%.
The added traffic boosted car rentals at the airport by 28% in September.
While passenger traffic is up here, freight landing weight was down 11% in September but up 11.7% in August.
Lastly, charter traffic this year is mostly higher but down in September by 15% from a year ago.
United says it is not concerned about a recession slowdown this year. “Despite growing concerns about an economic slowdown, the ongoing COVID recovery trends at United continue to prevail and we remain optimistic that we’ll continue to deliver strong financial results in the fourth quarter, 2023 and beyond,” said chief executive officer Scott Kirby.
American Airlines announcement
American Airlines too has announced that they will fly larger aircraft out of SLO to Dallas twice a day on planes that are nearly double the seating.