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American Eagle and Delta Connection propelled the Medford airport to record numbers last month. A total of 63,382 travelers — a number once reserved for summer months — passed though the airport gates in January. The 13.6 percent bump easily eclipsed 2017's record of 55,808 passengers and provided a laudable encore to December's 77,424 figure. Delta, which introduced a Seattle route last fall and upped its seating capacity on two Salt Lake City flights, saw its passenger count soar by more than 58 percent. American Eagle continued to pick up slack from Alaska's abandoned Los Angele route, as well as its flights to Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. Alan Bender, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University who tracks the commercial airline industry, said the success of those Delta and American routes could lead to additional departures. "American already has multiple daily frequencies to Phoenix and Los Angeles from Eugene, and Delta already has multiple daily frequencies from Seattle to Eugene," he said. "This means one-day business trips would be possible. Right now, Alaska has the one-day business trip market all to itself to Portland and Seattle. One-day business trips within the Northwest are Horizon’s bread-and-butter. They (Alaska) will never lose Portland, but Seattle may be in jeopardy." Alaska's Horizon Air unit saw its passenger count drop 14 percent last month, but it still topped all carriers with 24,050 paying customers. United and United Express accounted for 17,891 travelers. As surrounding cities such as Klamath Falls, North Bend, Redding and Crescent City suffer diminished or curtailed service, Medford becomes a greater option. "In virtually every area, things are going well," said Bender, who resides in Ashland. "Fuel has gone up a little but is relatively cheap. There was a blip in the stock market, but the economy has been good, and we've got a record number of seats at the Medford airport." Brian Mein of Caveman Travel Agency said he's still hoping Alaska Airlines will bounce back after dropping service to Los Angeles last year. "Alaska blew it when it gave up Los Angeles, because American is going there now and United is going to start going there this summer," Mein said. "The airport is large enough it could have handled more flights if Alaska wanted to turn Medford into a small hub. I think Oakland would be a great run from here." — Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness or www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31 .