Two Bay Area airports saw increases in travel throughout the summer despite the depressed economy.
About 12 million travelers passed through SFO from June to August this year, which was a more than 4 percent increase over the same period in 2009, according to officials.
"We realize that during these tough economic times, when making travel decisions, passengers always vote with their pocket books," airport Director John Martin said in a statement.
Oakland International Airport has also seen an increase in travel this summer.
"The largest growth in our numbers were Hawaii and Mexico markets," airport spokesman Robert Bernardo said.
He said Hawaiian Airlines and Volaris Airlines, which travels to Mexico, did "quite well" this year in ticket sales.
Aside from it being vacation season, SFO officials see two reasons for increased travel this summer. The airport is expanding service provided by low-cost carriers, including Virgin America, JetBlue and Southwest Airlines.
Additionally, a number of new services to Europe and Canada have opened at the airport.
Airlines at SFO saw almost a 9 percent increase in international ticket sales from last year, according to a statement.
Bernardo couldn't comment on why Oakland airport sales might be up, but he said official numbers about the size of the increase should be available in coming days.
Bay City News