Long Beach Airport is solidifying its status as the favored travel gateway in Southern California, and the evidence is in the numbers, according to Mayor Rex Richardson.

More than 1.1 million passengers passed through the airport this summer, a record-breaking number that represents a 14% increase over 2023. That far outpaced industrywide growth of just 6% for the summer season, Long Beach Airport said in an announcement Tuesday.

It also means Long Beach Airport has more than bounced back from pandemic-era shutdowns that decimated air travel numbers.

The facility’s previous record for summer travelers was 1,062,202 in 2018. That number plummeted to 111,437 in 2020. Now, the summer of 2024 has reset the benchmark at 1,104,994.

“The impressive growth we’ve seen this summer demonstrates the confidence passengers have in Long Beach Airport,” Airport Director Cynthia Guidry said in a statement.

Mayor Rex Richardson takes the stage as the Long Beach Airport celebrates the grand reopening of the historic terminal in Long Beach, Saturday, July 27, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

City officials said the growth has been spurred by more than $100 million in terminal improvements, more nonstop flights to new destinations like Hawaii, and hard work from airport employees.

“Their dedication is why passengers place their trust in LGB as their preferred gateway in and out of Southern California,” Richardson said in a statement.

Jeremiah Dobruck is executive editor of the Long Beach Post where he oversees all day-to-day newsroom operations. In his time working as a journalist in Long Beach, he’s won numerous awards for his investigative reporting and editing. Before coming to the Post in 2018, he wrote for publications including the Press-Telegram, Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times. Reach him at jeremiah@lbpost.com or @jeremiahdobruck on Twitter.