By JAMES FINK
jfink@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1611

Southwest Airlines' dominance at Buffalo Niagara International Airport was further cemented in March as it handled 31 percent of people flying out of the Cheektowaga facility.

It marked the second consecutive month that Southwest carried more than 30 percent of outbound passengers at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Since late 2000, no airline has had more than 30 percent of the local market share.

According to statistics compiled by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, Southwest had nearly one-third of the passengers that month. It had 30 percent in February, the first time the carrier  crossed that mark since it began service to Buffalo in October 2000.

In March, Southwest saw an 8.75 percent increase in passengers. It handled 66,905 fliers, compared with 61,522 in the same month in 2010.

JetBlue is the airport's second-busiest carrier, with 18 percent of outbound passengers. It reported a 2 percent increase in passengers, from 38,354 fliers in March 2010 to 39,128 this past March.

Delta/Northwest was third busiest. It handled 35,429 passengers in March, an increase of 1.49 percent from March 2010 when it reported 34,910.

USAirways, meanwhile, came in as the Buffalo airport's fourth-busiest carrier. However, it reported an 8.4 percent decrease in passengers: 33,071 in March, compared with 36,112 a year ago.

The total outbound passenger count at the airport increased 0.42 percent in March, up from 216,347 to 217,258.

Meanwhile, at Niagara Falls International Airport, outbound customer traffic increased 107.7 percent in March. That was attributed to increased service and routes from its three  carriers: Spirit Airlines, Vision Airlines and Direct Air.

The airport handled 11,311 outbound passengers in March, compared with 5,446 for the same period in March 2010.

For the first three months of the year, the passenger count increased 140 percent, up from 9,369 in March 2010 to 22,483 air travelers this past March.

New routes from all three airlines are expected to fuel more increases in passenger traffic at the Niagara Falls airport.