Passenger Load at John Wayne Increases 11.7%

Continuing a steady upward trend, passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport surged almost 12% in January over the same period last year, county officials said Wednesday.

The latest figures show that the number of airline travelers hit 617,319 last month, 11.7% more than the 552,496 passengers reported in January 2002.

Commercial flight operations -- take-offs and landings -- increased 2.1%, from 6,959 to 7,105 for the month.

Business travel has remained healthy, airport officials said, and more people have been willing to travel by air now that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are 16 months behind them.