Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) says that airlines serving Los Angeles International (LAX) during 2006 handled 2,103,082 tons of cargo including air mail, down 1.6 per cent from 2005.

International passenger traffic experienced its first decline since 2003, dropping 3.3 per cent year on year to 16,911,092 in 2006 owing to high fuel costs, a failure to add capacity and a desire to increase profitability.

The volume of air cargo transported via LA/Ontario International (ONT) airport totalled 544,600 tons, a drop of 5.6 per cent from 576,791 tons in 2005.

Overall, LAX airlines served 61,041,066 passengers in 2006, a fall of .07 per cent from 61,489,523 passengers in 2005.

ONT passenger traffic surpassed the seven million mark for the second consecutive year as 7,049,904 passengers passed through the airport last year, a decrease of 2.3 per cent from 7,214,171 passengers in 2005.

On the other hand, ONT international passenger traffic, primarily to and from Mexico, rose by 31 per cent over the previous year to 156,660 passengers in 2006.

LAWA is a City of Los Angeles department that owns and operates LAX, LA/ONT International, and the Southern California airports of LA/Palmdale Regional and Van Nuys.