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Medford airport streaks toward 900K passengers Wednesday Dec 20, 2017 at 5:41 PM Dec 20, 2017 at 5:41 PM Greg Stiles Mail Tribune @GregMTBusiness In rounded numbers, November was a stunning success for commercial aviation at the Medford airport. With United Airlines surpassing Alaska Air as the market leader, 80,403 travelers passed through the turnstiles, topping the year-old record of 65,974 by nearly 22 percent. The monumental month pushed the 2017 total to 824,154, 8.7 percent ahead of the 2016 pace when the airport saw a record 822,289 passengers. Not a bad time for new Airport Director Jerry Brienza to make his debut. "The numbers continue to climb, and that's always a positive," Brienza said. "In this day, in the airline industry, we tend to say behind closed doors that the status quo is good. These are really excellent numbers, and we're looking to continue the trend into next year."  Now, it's just a matter of whether the airport will crest 900,000 passengers this year. "It's going to be either really close, or just over it," Brienza said. "We definitely hope we'll be over." While United accounted for 29,136 passengers, Alaska had 27,276 travelers on its Portland and Seattle routes. Delta saw its numbers double, to more than 8,900 passengers after offering an early-morning flight to Seattle. Fog is always a threat to delay or cancel flights this time of year and affected the schedule a bit last week, he said. There are 21 daily departures, including a half-dozen wide-body jets, upping capacity. "We're exploring opportunities for a second jet bridge," Brienza said. "The infrastructure is in place for a second one; now it's a matter of whether the airport or the airlines buy it." The airport's new parking lot adjacent to Biddle Road is now open. "Although we had a large portion of it ready for Thanksgiving, we still had to use an overflow lot, and that's a good problem to have," Brienza said. Besides adding more service to San Francisco, United is gearing up for a third Denver departure next summer. In addition to a 5:45 a.m. flight to the Mile High City, United will have regional jet flights at 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. — 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.