2 California airports lead nation in fare hikes

”Survey says” looks at various rankings and scorecards judging geographic locations while noting these grades are best seen as a mix of artful interpretation and data.

The numbers: California is home to two of the five airports with last year’s largest airfare hikes.

The sources: My trusty spreadsheet looked at the larger airports within a study of the cost of flying in last year’s first three quarters compared with 12 months earlier by the Upgradedpoints.com travel website. We pondered average round-trip prices at 143 high-activity airports – including 12 from California. Pricing trends were compared with passenger count patterns from Visit California.

Quick analysis

Long Beach tops the nation with a 16% jump to an average $373 fare. Still, that’s the 20th-lowest cost for flights among the 143 tracked.

The airport continues to struggle with the exit of the low-cost airline JetBlue. Passenger counts were up 11% last year but were 6% below pre-pandemic 2019.

The No. 5 for fare-hike rankings was Hollywood Burbank, up 10.5% to $347 (No. 131). Passenger counts were up 2% last year, putting activity 1% above 2019 levels.

Nationally, fares rose 1.2% to $462.

Tidbits

Travelers are shying from the state’s biggest airports – Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. Blame the loss on international and business travel, plus smaller airports nearby have fewer headaches and congestion.

Here are 10 other airports, ranked by their one-year price change …

Sacramento: Up 6.1% (No. 15 of 143) to $451 (No. 100). Up 1% last year but off 2% from 2019.

Palm Springs: Up 5.5% (No. 20) to $550 (No. 24). No passenger count available.

Oakland: Up 4.8% (No. 30) to $351 (No. 130). Up 1% last year but off 16% from 2019.

Santa Barbara: Up 4.1% (No. 44) to $535 (No. 31). No passenger count available.

San Jose: Up 4% (No. 45) to $389 (No. 123). Up 7% last year but off 23% from 2019.

Orange County: Up 2.5% (No. 57) to $476 (No. 72). Up 3% last year and up 10% from 2019.

Ontario: Up 1.1% (No. 79) to $443 (No. 102). Up 12% last year and up 15% from 2019.

San Diego: Up 0.2% (No. 89) to $466 (No. 82). Up 9% last year but off 5% from 2019.

Los Angeles: Off 1% (No. 111) to $518 (No. 42). Up 14% last year but off 15% from 2019.

San Francisco: Off 3.7% (No. 132) to $550 (No. 23). Up 19% last year but off 13% from 2019.

Sound bites

“The airline industry is booming again after the pandemic’s devastating impact,” the Upgradedpoints.com report stated. “Passenger numbers are back to pre-pandemic levels, even surpassing them in 2023. This resurgence comes with a focus on airfare, as travelers navigate inflation alongside their renewed desire to fly.

“While ticket prices initially dipped during the pandemic, they steadily recovered as travel restrictions eased. This reflects not only revived demand but also inflation’s effect across the industry, including jet fuel prices. Airfare stabilized somewhat in 2023, but after adjusting for inflation, round-trip flights are actually more affordable than before the pandemic.

“The rise in airfare isn’t uniform across the country. Small hub airports and those in popular vacation destinations saw the most significant increases.”

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com