Airport passenger traffic down, freight up in October

Passenger boardings at Spokane International Airport fell 6.3 percent in October compared with a year earlier, continuing a downturn triggered by the soft economy. The 126,338 boardings, down from 134,805 in October 2008, brought the total for 2009 to 2.6 million, off 13 percent from the first 10 months of 2008. Freight tonnage increased 5.2 percent, to 4,434 tons from 4,216 tons, easing a decrease for the year so far to 12.2 percent. At Felts Field, aviation operations were down 23 percent from last October; so far in 2009, operations are off 3.3 percent. Freight decreased 11.7 percent from 3.4 tons a year ago. The total for 2009 fell 19.4 percent, to 36.4 tons from 45.1 tons.