Weather has chilling effect on air-passenger numbers

Associated Press

DAYTON

Severe winter weather is getting blamed for a second-straight month of passenger number declines at Dayton International Airport.

The area of western Ohio where the airport is has had some of the state’s worst cold and snow in what’s been a rough winter for most. The Dayton Daily News reports that Dayton passenger boardings fell 12 percent in February compared with the previous February. The total for this February was 80,311 passengers.

January passenger boardings also fell by 12 percent from January 2013 figures.

The newspaper reports that weather delays and cancellations have plagued flight schedules early this year.

Airport spokeswoman Linda Hughes says another contributor to the lower year-to-year passenger numbers was the end of Frontier Airlines flights. The carrier stopped Dayton operations last May.