Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) is not being affected by President Donald Trump’s executive order on Wednesday, March 13 to ground all Boeing 737 Max airplanes in the US.
PTIA Executive Director Kevin Baker said on Wednesday that it’s important to realize that the Max is only one type of 737, and the other 737’s remain in the air.
“Note that it’s not all of the 737’s, but just the 737 Max aircraft,” Baker said.
He added that flights to and from PTIA currently do not rely on that type of aircraft.
“None of our markets are using Max aircraft at this time on a regular basis,” he said.
According to Baker, even though there are no PTIA flights using Max’s, the airport can see one come in from time to time.
“That doesn’t mean that, on a particular day, one couldn’t show up here,” he said. “The airlines are constantly moving aircraft inventory as necessary, and this is a 737 – clearly a model that could serve our market – but none here regularly right now.”
On Wednesday, Trump announced the decision to ground the aircraft in the wake of two deadly crashes involving the Max. The action in the US follows a similar move by many countries around the world and the decision came amid major expressions of concern from industry unions, passengers, political leaders and others.
Passengers flying out of PTIA who are expecting connecting flights could be affected with regard to those flights. For instance, PTIA serves southern Florida and many passengers in that area were affected on Wednesday by the grounding of the Boeing Max’s. The same is true for other areas of the country.
