![]() The leisure traveler has been the main driver in our 2021 passenger numbers. As confidence in air travel continues to grow and companies start to reinstate or expand their travel budgets, the business traveler will return, and operations will return to a somewhat normal to elevated level. The airlines also saw mass retirements at the height of Covid, which led to a pilot shortage exacerbated by the quicker than expected passenger recovery.Īlthough we are beginning to see a slight uptick in business travel, it is nowhere near what the airport was seeing in 2019. This slow recovery is marked by several factors, most noticeably the Covid-19 pandemic, which at this time is impacting the return of the business traveler. ![]() The consensus throughout the airline and airport industry is that most facilities will not see a full recovery until 2023 or 2024. We seem to be faring better than most throughout the country and that is a testament to the strong economy and growth throughout our region. ![]() And while we lost some flights, we did not lose any destinations. Overall, we saw three new destinations enter the market. When 2021 is put into perspective, it certainly was better than 2020, but I miss those 2019 numbers. We expect to finish 2021 at about 80% of the 2019 enplanements, or 342,464. In 2020 passenger numbers fell to the lowest level since 1997 (188,959). This estimate represents a significant growth over 2020’s dramatic decline in passenger numbers. There’s reason for optimism as we have seen a significant improvement in air travel volumes.Ĭoming into the year, staff forecasted passenger traffic would reach 60% (262,873) of our 2019 passenger numbers (438,123). Despite a global pandemic, 2021 was a pleasant surprise for the Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |