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May 21--Passenger traffic at T.F. Green Airport was down in April compared with a year earlier. But, for the second straight month, the decline was far shallower than those posted in the fall. The 4.1 percent decline in April was the smallest in 10 months, excluding March's 2.3 percent drop.
The numbers could signal a bottom in the airline market just as the summer travel season arrives.
In all, 395,499 people traveled through Green last month, down from 412,471 a year ago, according to the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, the state agency that runs Rhode Island's state airports.
Southwest Airlines, which accounts for more than half of Green's passengers, posted an increase for the first time since May of last year. During most of the interim, Southwest posted double-digit percent losses, though last month it essentially broke even, down 0.1 percent. In April, it carried a total of 220,933 passengers through Green, up 2.2 percent from 216,243 a year ago.The total passenger count essentially includes each flier twice, once when leaving Green and again when arriving, although people who fly one-way or whose trip begins or ends in a different month are counted only once.
