SANTA ANA, Calif. - Airline passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport increased in February 2022 as compared to February 2021. In February 2022, the Airport served 717,400 passengers, an increase of 215.5% when compared with the February 2021 passenger traffic count of 227,402. There was a decrease of 6.2% when compared to 764,506 passengers in February 2020 and a decrease of 9.1% when compared to February 2019 of 789,523 passengers.
Commercial aircraft operations increased 87.5% and commuter aircraft operations increased 63.5% when compared with February 2021 levels. Levels compared to 2020 show commercial aircraft operations of 6,269 increased 9.5% and commuter aircraft operations of 577 decreased 23.2%. February 2022 in comparison to 2019 levels, commercial aircraft operations of 6,737 increased 1.9% and commuter aircraft operations of 416 increased 6.5%.
Total aircraft operations increased in February 2022 as compared with the same month in 2021. In February 2022, there were 23,522 total aircraft operations (take-offs and landings), a 7.5% increase compared to 21,873 total aircraft operations in February 2021. Total aircraft operations increased 21.2% compared to 19,412 in February 2020 and increased 10.1% compared to the February 2019 21,360 total.
General aviation activity, which accounted for 68.6% of the total aircraft operations during February 2022, decreased 9.9% when compared with February 2021, and increased 29.0% when compared to general aviation activity of 12,513 in February 2020, which accounted for 64.5% of total aircraft operations. When compared to February 2019 general aviation activity of 14,125, which accounted for 66.1% of total aircraft operations, it increased 14.3%.
The top three airlines in February 2022 based on passenger count were Southwest Airlines (275,771), United Airlines (105,039) and American Airlines (104,049).