ASHWAUBENON, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) — There are nine arrivals on the electronic board at Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport early Friday afternoon.
That’s exponentially more than April and May when the coronavirus pandemic shut down almost all air travel.
Slowly, Austin Straubel and other airports around the state and nation are seeing travelers return.
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“Pre-COVID we’d see about 1,000 people though our screening checkpoint on a regular day, right now we’ll hit about 500, 600, on our good days,” said Marty Piette, the airport’s director. “The slow days are still around that 300 or 400 level.”
It’s a similar story at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee. More than half a million passengers passed through in February before plunging to 23,000 in April. In July, almost 176,000 people used the facility.
Piette said leisure travel is driving much of the traffic in Green Bay. It’s also impacting where airlines are flying.
Some carriers — like United Airlines — are adding more direct flights this winter from airports in Milwaukee and Cleveland to places people want to go — like Tampa and Fort Myers.
It’s a reflection of how airlines are adapting to current travel conditions. Another adaptation, many of the largest carriers are trimming tens of thousands of pilots and staff through furloughs and layoffs.
It may be a few years yet before air travel looks like it did in January and February. Earlier this summer, Moody’s Investors Service said it may not be until 2023 when passenger demand returns to 2019 levels.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes two or three years to get back to pre-COVID levels,” Piette said. “The airlines are taking a real hard look at their business model, their routes, and really being picky about which routes they maintain and sustain. It’s really those routes that are most profitable for them.”