COVID-19 is still making headlines from time to time, but that’s not keeping people from flying and, once again, the numbers of passengers at Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) are showing steady gains.
Every month, at the meeting of the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority, the authority releases the stats for the previous month and the new numbers show that the number of passengers flying in and out of the airport rose 10 percent in June of 2022 when compared with June of 2021.
For the year so far, the increase is much more dramatic. Passenger traffic is up 68 percent year-to-date in 2022 compared with last year.
One key milestone the airport is hoping to reach sometime soon is to see passenger traffic back up to pre-pandemic levels. That goal will have to wait.
The number of passengers for June 2022 versus June 2019 was down 26 percent.
In other numbers released from PTIA this week, the amount of cargo coming in and out of PTIA was up 13 percent in June 2022 over June of last year – and up 6 percent year-to-date.
The amount of cargo coming in and out of PTIA for June 2022 did beat the pre-pandemic numbers. It was was up 58 percent over June of 2019.
Total departing passenger seats that are scheduled for August 2022 is 88,726, up 3 percent over August of 2021 and down 27 percent from August of 2019.
COVID or no COVID, the planes are running pretty full. The “load factor” – the average percentage of airplane seats departing from PTIA that were filled with passengers – was 86 percent in April of 2022, which was 18 points higher than April of 2021 and 4 points higher than April in 2019.
I’m so tired of hearing everything blamed on COVID. The reason the passengers are not more is because of bad decisions by the airport board. Missed opertunties if the past continue to plague the future. It is more expensive to fly from PTI than it is to drive to Charlotte or Raleigh for the same flight. Increase direct flights and lower cost. Work on it.
If you wanted to herded down the chute to your stall; to be shoved, prodded, lectured, endure the odor of smelly socks, and humiliated – then have at it.