Airport traffic ‘leveling out’

WEST BAY — Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport reported its first gain in passenger traffic in more than a year at a board meeting last week.

Passenger traffic increased 2.74 percent over the previous year, the first traffic gain observed since August  2012. The gain pushed the airport’s year-to-date passenger traffic to a 7.6 percent decline.

Airport Director Parker McClellan cited the passenger gain as the beginning of a leveling out process for the airport, due to a significant reduction in flights that took about 400 seats out of the market in the fall of 2012.  

“Obviously if you take 400 seats out, the numbers are going to go down,” McClellan said. “A lot of that (gain) is a result of the holiday season, but another part of that is what we’ve been calling the ‘new normal.’ ”

Majority of the flight reductions came from Southwest Airlines, which adjusted its flight schedule to a more seasonal one after three years in the market.

The airline is running just three daily flights out of ECP, one each to Nashville, Houston and Baltimore, but will beef up its schedule to seven daily flights in March, including a seasonal flight to St. Louis.

However, the Southwest busy season schedule still is less active than it was in 2012, when the airline flew eight daily flights in addition to a test flight to St. Louis from June to August.

The budget airline also disbanded the airport’s only interstate service to Orlando in 2012.  

The reduction in flights pushed passenger traffic to double-digit declines for most of 2013, with the biggest drops observed early in the year. In November, passenger traffic at the airport was down about 13 percent.

“The passenger levels for December were up a little over 2 and a half percent,” said McClellan, who added the airport should see less double-digit passenger declines in the coming year. “Our numbers should level out over the next 12 months.” 

2013 passenger traffic

Comparing percentage of growth or decline with the same month the previous year— January: -14.56

— February: -15.41

— March: -1.14

— April: -7.79

— May: -1.51

— June: -4.72

— July: -9.73

— August: -8.99

— September: -10.91

— October: -11.09

— November: -13.34

— December: 2.74