NEW YORK - more people than ever used the Port Authority’s fast, reliable and inexpensive AirTrain systems for travel to and from John F. Kennedy International and Newark Liberty International airports in 2008, final statistics released today by the agency show.

AirTrain JFK and AirTrain Newark combined last year to serve nearly 6.7 million paid riders, in addition to the tens of millions of air passengers and people employed at the airport who used the two rail systems to travel free of charge between terminals, parking, and car rental areas. The 2008 combined total eclipses by nearly 8 percent the previous record of about 6.2 million paid riders set in 2007.

Both AirTrain systems have enjoyed year-to-year passenger traffic increases since they’ve been operational.  AirTrain Newark, which extended the existing Newark Airport monorail to link with the Northeast Corridor railroad line used by NJ Transit and Amtrak, opened in 2001.  AirTrain JFK, which connects the airport to the Long Island Rail Road and the New York City subway system at terminals in Jamaica and Howard Beach, Queens, began service in 2003.

The sharp increase in rail passengers on the two systems took place despite relatively flat year-to-year air passenger traffic numbers at Kennedy and Newark airports.  When the final numbers are calculated early in 2009, the Port Authority expects Kennedy will show modest passenger traffic growth, less than one percent, while Newark is expected to decline by about 2 percent.  About 108 million people used Kennedy, Newark, LaGuardia and Stewart International airports in 2008.