Daytona Beach, FL - Daytona Beach International Airport sees an increase in passenger traffic again despite the looming departure of one of its carriers.
October is the ninth straight month of passenger traffic increase over the previous year, according to a new report from the Volusia County-run airport, with the actual number being 8.7%.
"In particular, the reason why is because Delta and American both continue to add flights and add capacity," says Jay Cassens, Business & Development Director at DBIA. "Delta's passenger count was up about 3,000 and American's was up about 2,500 over last year."
63,821 people flew in and out in October. That number was 58.707 the same month in 2017.
DBIA Airport Director Rick Karl says Delta and American are adding flights at a record pace, off-setting JetBlue's decision to end its nonstop New York City to Daytona Beach service next January.
"We anticipate passenger traffic numbers will continue to grow for the remainder of the year as Delta and American continue to add flights and increase capacity," Karl added.
Cassens is hopeful another carrier will pick up the Daytona to NYC route that JetBlue is abandoning.
"The load factors were very, very good, actually, for JetBlue, for only [having] been here for a couple of years," Cassens noted. "We expect someone to come along and we're working on trying to get that service back to New York."
For the 12 months ending on October 31st, total passenger traffic at the airport increased 4.7%, with 753,117 passengers traveling through the last 12 months compared to 719,356 passengers the year prior.
