Fewer people used Salt Lake City International Airport in 2009, but passenger numbers picked up in the second half of the year as the recession began to ebb.

Passenger numbers totaled 20.45 million in 2009, a 1.63 percent decrease from the previous year, when 20.79 million people used the airport, which is the nation's 22nd busiest airport.

Passenger counts between January and May 2009 lagged behind the same months of 2008, according to airport figures released Thursday.

But starting in June, monthly passenger counts were higher than in the same months of 2008. June through December counts all were greater, indicating passengers were returning to the skies.

"We are encouraged by this positive trend," Maureen Riley, the airport's executive director, said in a statement.

"This indicates a rebound from the impact of the recent downturn in the national economy and reflects the changes in capacity that the airlines serving Salt Lake City have implemented over the past year," Riley said.

Delta Air Lines and its regional partners continued to be the dominant carrier presence at the airport. Those airlines jointly handled 15.16 million passengers during 2009, up 3.55 percent from the previous year.

Northwest Airlines, acquired by Delta in October 2008, was part of the 2009 passenger count.

Delta, however, ceded some of the flying to partner airlines. Delta flew 7.73 million passengers in and out of the airport in 2009, down 4.0 percent from 2008. Southwest continued to be the No. 2 airline. It carried 2.62 million passengers last year, a 2.45 percent decline from the previous year. pbeebe@sltrib.com