Los Angeles-area airports carried fewer passengers in the first half of 2026 than the year before, and the FIFA World Cup that was supposed to flood the region with international visitors did nothing to reverse the slide.

The four airports serving LA County (LAX, Hollywood Burbank, Long Beach and Ontario International) handled a combined 43.3 million passengers from January through June, down 1.7% from the same stretch in 2025, the LA Business Journal reported Monday, Aug. 17. That follows a 3% drop in the first half of 2025, meaning the region has now posted back-to-back declines.

June was worse. All four airports fell a combined 2.3% compared to June 2025, the month that was expected to get a tourism jolt from the World Cup. Long Beach plunged nearly 14%. Hollywood Burbank dropped 10%. LAX slipped 1.4%.

Why the World Cup whiffed

Adam Burke, chief executive of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board, pointed to three factors that undercut the expected travel surge.

"This World Cup was spread out in 16 cities across three countries, meaning that as your team progressed through the tournament, you had to book additional flights to stay with your team and also pay for those flights," Burke told the Business Journal.

Unlike the 2022 tournament in Qatar, where every match was within reach of a single airport, the 2026 format forced fans to chase their teams across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Scheduling uncertainty made it hard to book flights in advance, especially for later rounds. FIFA charged record-high ticket prices, with some early-round seats topping $1,000. And Burke said a displacement effect kept some regular travelers away from LA because they assumed prices would be inflated.

Rising international airfares compounded the problem. Average fares have climbed roughly 15% since late February after geopolitical disruptions drove up fuel costs, with some LAX routes up as much as 45%, according to data from flight search engine Skiplagged as reported by the New York Times and cited in the Business Journal's analysis.

Burbank and Long Beach hit hardest

Hollywood Burbank Airport saw an 8.6% passenger decline in the first half, driven by the exits of two carriers. Spirit Airlines had been cutting Burbank routes for months before shutting down entirely on May 2, its second bankruptcy in less than a year costing roughly 17,000 direct and indirect jobs nationwide. Avelo Airlines pulled out of its Burbank hub in mid-2025, removing all West Coast flights.

Long Beach fell 9%, dragged down by Southwest Airlines, which controls more than 85% of the airport's traffic and has been trimming routes nationally. Long Beach's passenger count has now dipped 1.7% below pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

Ontario bucks the trend

Ontario International was the lone bright spot, posting a 1.9% gain and its highest half-year total since returning to local control in 2016. The Inland Empire airport's passenger count now sits 31% above its pre-pandemic baseline.

LAX, meanwhile, handled about 35.4 million passengers, down 1% — an improvement over last year's 4% slide but still 17.7% below its 2019 level.

Cargo climbs, new routes ahead

Air cargo offered better news for the logistics economy. The four airports moved nearly 1.6 million metric tons in the first half, up 5.9%, with LAX gaining 5.2% and Ontario surging 7.6%.

Relief is also coming on the passenger side. Five airlines have announced 11 new routes at Hollywood Burbank for the second half of 2026, including seasonal Alaska Airlines service to Honolulu that has already launched. Alaska Airlines plans to resume Long Beach service in September with flights to Seattle, and Southwest has added nonstop daily flights to Portland and Seattle from Long Beach.

Whether LAX saw a July bump from two elimination-round World Cup matches at SoFi Stadium won't be known until monthly data is released at the end of August.