[ad_1]
Travel from Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport has increased significantly from last year but is still below pre-pandemic numbers.
One reason it hasn’t fully recovered is that not all flights have returned, including the Lubbock-Austin direct route.
Fewest passengers left Lubbock Airport in April 2020, the first full month of COVID-19 in Lubbock County. Only 2,345 passengers, fewer than 100 a day, flew that month. It was a nearly 95% decrease from the 42,964 passengers who left the airport in April 2019.
In April of this year, 31,951 passengers left the airport. Travel volume from the airport was 13 times as high as last year in April 2021, but still lower than before the April pandemic.
April was the extreme, but airport director Kelly Campbell says that’s pretty much still the picture: significantly more people are leaving the airport this year, but still below pre-pandemic numbers.
In May of this year, for example, the number of passengers increased by 345% compared to May 2020, but still 22% lower than in May 2019.
The largest month-to-month increase in passengers occurred from February to March of this year, when about 13,500 more passengers left the airport.
Campbell says the airport feels like an airport again.
“It’s a drastic turnaround,” said Campbell. “In April 2020 it was hard to get to work. It was depressing. We had days when our last flight was at 10:30 in the morning. We are slowly getting better, it was slow progress. We are still continuing see it get a little better. “
The July 4th weekend should be the busiest travel weekend since the pandemic, as more people across the country are vaccinated, according to the Associated Press. An estimated 3.5 million travelers should pass through US airports.
An AAA spokesman told CBS News that many more Americans, an estimated 43 million, are expected to be traveling by car over the weekend of July 4th.
Airlines say domestic vacation travel has returned to 2019 levels, although the shortage of business travelers means the number of passengers still fell slightly overall last week compared to the same days in 2019, according to the AP, according to the AP is.
Campbell also says that in Lubbock it appears that recreational traffic is increasing while business traffic is lagging. Campbell says it’s impossible to know when, if ever, business travel will pick up again as virtual meetings have become so commonplace.
The number of flights from Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport is still lower than it was before the pandemic.
American, United and Southwest Airlines all operate flights from Lubbock. Campbell says American has pretty much returned to its eight a day flights from Lubbock, United has returned to its five a day, but Southwest Airlines currently flies an average of about four a day from Lubbock when it was about before the pandemic eight flights a day.
One of the flights that Southwest Airlines didn’t bring back is the direct flight from Lubbock to Austin, and Southwest was the only airline that offered that direct flight, so there is now no direct flight.
Lubbock Mayor Dan Pope and Mayor Pro Tem Steve Massengale jointly signed a letter to Southwest Airlines executives last month saying Lubbock is strongly encouraging the airline to bring air traffic up to pre-flight levels as soon as possible Pandemic.
“Lubbock’s business and cultural activities are emerging quickly from the COVID-19 pandemic,” read the letter from the Pope and Massengale. “Our hotel occupancy, sales tax and unemployment rate are all at or very close to COVID-19. With this in mind, voters have expressed concern about the lack of Southwest service. Complaints were particularly widespread during the Texas State Legislature session suspending non-stop Southwest-Austin flights. “
Campbell says Southwest informed Lubbock that the Denver non-stop tour will not be returning, despite saying the decision was made before the pandemic. There is still a non-stop service from Lubbock to Denver via United. Campbell said Southwest’s Lubbock to Austin nonstop should return at some point, and they are hoping for the Houston nonstop too.
Campbell says airlines and the airport, like many companies, are struggling to fill positions.
“Anyone looking for a job has a chance here,” said Campbell of the airport. “We tried to reopen the airport shelter park, and we just can’t. We need storage assistance, the restaurant operator is hiring. I’m not sure about the rental car. But there are definitely many options.” . The airlines are also hiring. “
Lubbock Airport is still undergoing major renovations and Campbell is hoping that the most visible parts will be ready this fall.
The major investment project at the airport includes the modernization of the entire building, the relocation of security checks and exit points, the improvement of the public address system, the improvement of internal operations and the modernization of much of the interior of the building. Some key highlights of the project are that TSA screening will be moved to the east side of the building, there will be only one consolidated baggage claim at the south end of the curved building, and the brick floor will be removed.
Campbell says the pandemic slightly delayed the project because supplies were slow to arrive and crews sometimes dropped out, but she says it is nearing completion.
[ad_2]
