Last year was the best on record for Lafayette Regional Airport, with the three airlines serving the airport reporting a combined increase of 2 percent in passenger activity.
Last year was the best on record for Lafayette Regional Airport, with the three airlines serving the airport reporting a combined increase of 2 percent in passenger activity.
A total of 449,140 passengers flew to and from Lafayette last year, surpassing the record of 440,462 passengers set in 2007.
And the trend appears to be continuing. December is the latest in a number of months in 2010 that posted some of the best numbers on record. Last month, a record 18,413 passengers boarded planes at the airport, and another 17,848 passengers arrived - the second highest number on record for the month of December.
Load factors - the number of passengers flying on an airline compared to the number of seats available - continued to be higher than average in December for all three carriers. Leading the way was Continental Express with 90.7 percent of seats filled, followed by Delta Connection/Atlanta with 89.1, American Eagle with 79.8 and Delta Connection/Memphis with 77.4.
Cargo numbers for December, and for the year overall, remained high, the airport reported. Cargo loaded totaled 1.01 million pounds and cargo unloaded totaled 1.28 million pounds. For the year, 10.86 million pounds of cargo was loaded, and 14.07 million pounds were unloaded.