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Passenger traffic at LMM nears 9.7M in ’21, up 2.5% vs. ’19 pre-COVID levels

Passenger traffic at Puerto Rico’s Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (LMM) approached nearly 9.7 million in 2021, up some 2.5% when compared to the 12-month period ended December 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic crippled air traffic.

When compared to 2020, passengers who used the facility doubled from the 4.8 million reported by its operator, Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR), parent company of Aerostar Holdings, which runs Puerto Rico’s main airport facility.

LMM’s passenger traffic was down 1.7% in December 2021, when compared to pre-pandemic levels in December 2019. About 921,944 passengers used the facility last month, down slightly when compared to the 937,716 on record for December 2019.

When compared year-over-year, the most recent number is nearly 80% higher than the 513,404 on record for December 2020, when air traffic was still affected by COVID-19 restrictions.

“In December 2020, growth in domestic passenger traffic in Puerto Rico did not offset lower international traffic in this market during the same period,” it noted.

In its most recent quarterly report, ASUR confirmed that traffic at its other airports in Mexico and Colombia also increased, which “reflects the continued overall recovery in global travel demand, the ongoing rollout of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in the US.”

Last month’s traffic at LMM is broken down into 854,978 domestic travelers and 66,966 passengers on international flights. When compared to December 2019, domestic traffic remained virtually flat against the 845,671 passengers reported for that month, while international traffic was down 27.2% from the 92,045 on record for that month two years prior.

Author Details
Author Details
Business reporter with 30 years of experience writing for weekly and daily newspapers, as well as trade publications in Puerto Rico. My list of former employers includes Caribbean Business, The San Juan Star, and the Puerto Rico Daily Sun, among others. My areas of expertise include telecommunications, technology, retail, agriculture, tourism, banking and most other segments of Puerto Rico’s economy.
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