ABIA releases air-traffic numbers

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin-Bergstrom International Airport sent out their passenger and air cargo traffic report for May on Tuesday.

ABIA experienced an overall decrease across commercial air traffic and general aviation.

ABIA reported for May 2009 a total of 691,883 total passengers passing through the airport, down 14.5 percent when compared to May 2008. Total enplanements, the number of passengers boarding a flight, including origination, stopovers and connections, also reported a decrease of 15.5 percent from May 2008.

Southwest Airlines came out ahead compared to the rest of the airlines. Nearly all airlines except U.S. Airways and Frontier Airlines suffered a decrease in passenger counts compared to May 2008. A breakdown of total enplanements by airlines includes:

• Southwest Airlines down 5.5 percent with 255,159 total passengers
• American Airlines down 17.5 percent with 169,767 total passengers
• Contential Airlines down 10 percent with 76,596 total passengers
• Delta Air Lines up 36.5 percent with 72,043 total passengers
• United Airline s down 17.5 percent with 38,904 total passengers
• JetBlue Airways down 8 percent with 34,922 total passengers
• U.S. Airways up 1.5 percent with 30,723 total passengers
• Frontier Airlines up 16 percent with 21,592 total passengers
• vivaAerobus down 75.5 percent with 2,714 total passengers
• Air Canada down 45 percent with 1,470 total passengers

Air cargo totaled 13,069,061 pounds, also taking a hit due to the current economy, down 25 percent compared to May 2008. International cargo totaled 249,473 pounds, down 39.5 percent since May 2008.

• Federal Express up 2.5 percent, carrying 8.6 million pounds
• United Parcel Service down 12 percent, carrying 2.3 million pounds
• Air Services down 40.5 percent, transferring 359,660 pounds of mail

General Aviation operations totaled 5,298, down 21.5 percent along with combined operations (including Commercial and miliary) totaled 15,227, down 21 percent since May 2008.