Airline passenger traffic in and out of L.A. continues to increase.

Passenger traffic in Los Angeles County grew more than 6 percent last year, according to this week's List of the 25 biggest commercial airlines operating in the area (see page 12).

Passenger traffic at the four commercial airports operating in the county increased to 50.5 million from 47.3 million in 1993, according to figures provided by the airlines for The List.

The passenger growth has continued into this year, based on figures from local airports that are not included in The List.

The List ranking is based on passengers arriving and departing on flights at Los Angeles International Airport, Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, Long Beach Airport and Palmdale Airport.

Topping The List, as it has for several years, is United Airlines with an 18.8 percent market share in the county. The airline, based in Chicago, said it carried 10.6 million passengers into and out of Los Angeles County airports in 1994.

Compared to 1993, United's market share dropped 1.5 percentage points last year but the number of passengers increased almost 9 percent from the previous year.

Shuttle launched

United's dominance in the market has continued this year as it launched its West Coast Shuttle service. The number of daily departures at LAX, for instance, has gone from 90 to 180 in the past year. Ninety of those departures are part of the Shuttle program that offers frequent departures to West Coast cities.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is second on The List to United. Southwest specializes in frequent, low-cost flights to destinations in the western part of the country.

Rounding out the top four in the same order as a year ago are Delta Airlines and American Airlines.

The fifth, sixth and seventh spots on The List are different from a year ago. The names are the same but the order is different. The List for 1993 traffic was No. 5 Northwest Airlines; No. 6 USAir, and No. 7 Continental Airlines.

This year's List reads No. 5 USAir; No. 6 Continental, and No. 7 Northwest.

Showing the biggest change from the same List of a year ago is Reno Air, the Reno, Nev.-based carrier with service in the western region of the country.

Reno takes off

Reno Air leaped from No. 16 on last year's List to No. 12. From 1993 to 1994, the carrier's market share went from 1.1 percent to 1.6 percent, with passenger volume going from 507,971 to 882,497.

One event that boosted passenger traffic in the area during 1994 was the World Cup soccer tournament. Passenger traffic during June and July 1994 - when several World Cup games were played in Pasadena - increased significantly from 1993.

But local tourism industry officials have noted that even without a big event this year, passenger traffic at the local airports has continued to grow this year. That, the experts have said, is a good sign that the local economy has come back from the recession earlier in the decade.

At LAX, according to figures from the Los Angeles Department of Airports, passenger traffic from January through September this year went up 6.4 percent to 40.6 million compared to 38 million in the same 1993 period.

Passenger traffic on international flights ascended 5.9 percent while business on domestic flights increased 6.6 percent, said the department.