Fewer passengers, and shorter waits

Security screening wait times at Atlanta’s airport topped 20 minutes less than half as often this summer as the year before, and only a fraction as often as in 2007, the airport said Friday.

Wait times at checkpoints have reached 20 minutes 16 times over the summer, down from 35 times in the summer of 2008 and 350 times in the summer of 2007, according to the airport.

The shorter wait times are due in part to an expansion of security checkpoints at Hartsfield-Jackson in late 2008.

They also reflect flight cutbacks and slumping travel demand that has taken a toll on airlines’ passenger counts.

For instance, Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines on Friday said ridership fell 6.9 percent through the first eight months of the year compared to the same period of 2008. The airline cut capacity 5.8 percent in the same time frame.

The year-to-date numbers were included in Delta’s passenger traffic report for August, which showed a 2.2 percent decline compared to the same month a year earlier. Capacity for the month alone was down 3.2 percent.

The biggest drop-offs have been in international flying. Delta’s August report showed a 1.3 percent drop in domestic passenger traffic and a 3.5 percent drop in international passenger traffic compared with the year-ago month.

Delta’s planes averaged 86.6 percent full in August, up from 85.7 percent a year earlier. Cargo traffic fell 15.6 percent in the month.

AirTran Airways, which has its largest hub in Atlanta, had a 6.1 percent drop in passenger traffic in August on a 3.4 percent cut in capacity. AirTran’s planes averaged 84.9 percent full in the month, down from 87.3 percent a year earlier.