Slightly fewer passengers flew in and out of Wilmington International Airport in February 2019 than in January of this year, according to figures released Thursday by the airport.
 
The total number of departing passengers in February was 32,759, down from a January total of 35,284. Passenger arrivals at ILM in February totaled 32,162, a decrease of about 2,700 from January's figure of 34,866.
 
January of this month represented a record in terms of passenger numbers for that month. Passenger counts for both January and February 2019, however, are substantially higher than those of the same months in 2018.
 
Cargo figures are a different matter. Only 121,233 pounds of freight flew into ILM in February 2019 as compared with 181,830 pounds in February 2018. There was a slight increase over January 2019, which saw 116,680 pounds of cargo arrive in Wilmington.
 
Outbound cargo totaled 97,512 pounds last month, down about 5,000 pounds from totals in January 2019 and down more than 11,000 pounds from amounts in February 2018.
 
Historically, however, cargo volumes rise over the course of the calendar year, according to figures supplied by the airport.  The same is generally true of passenger levels; ILM data shows that fewer people tend to travel to and from ILM in January and February than they do later in the year.

In her comments as part of the transportation panel at Tuesday's Power Breakfast, airport director Julie Wilsey said that 2018 showed the biggest year-over-year increase in traffic ever.