It’s nearly halfway through 2021 and, thankfully, the latest passenger stats for Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) are a whole heck of a lot better than they were at the halfway point of 2020. 

According to statistics released at the Tuesday, June 22, Piedmont Triad Airport Authority meeting, the number of flyers in and out of PTIA in May was up 538 percent from the same month last year.

At the meeting, PTIA Executive Director Kevin Baker said this was encouraging, but he added that the numbers for May 2021 were still right at half of what they were in May of 2019.

“I guess one way to look at it, he said at the meeting, “is that it took us, from the low month of April of 2020 to 13 months later, to get to May of 2021, before we got to a single month equaling half of the passengers we saw in 2019.”

He also said that, given budgetary concerns, he’s really hoping that June will make up some financial ground for the airport.

The amount of cargo coming in and out of PTIA in May of 2021 was up 112 percent over May 2020.  Cargo shipments were up 16 percent over May 2019. 

Year to date, cargo shipments in and out of PTIA are up 69 percent in 2021 over 2020.

 There are other signs of hope as well at the airport that’s been trying to draw more economic development to the site in addition to more passengers.  August 2021 seats are scheduled to only be down 28 percent over August 2019.  Also, Allegiant Airlines has new non-stop service between Nashville and Greensboro that began on Thursday, June 3, and Spirit Airlines began offering new non-stop service to Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, June 10.

 

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