ROANOKE, Va – The coronavirus pandemic has not been good for air travel and last month’s numbers from the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport reflect that.
May 2020 passenger traffic was down 90% compared compared to May 2019.
Only 6,387 passengers flew into and out of Roanoke, compared with the prior May’s 65,026.
On average, that means 1,891 fewer people used the airport each day.
While traffic is down, compared to April 2020, when the airport only had 1,823 passengers, the airport saw an increase of about 250%.
Looking to 2019, the percentage change between April and May was only 6.66%.
“The decrease in airline operations and passenger traffic this spring was not unexpected due to the pandemic,” stated Timothy T. Bradshaw, A.A.E., executive director of the Roanoke Regional Airport Commission. “We hope to see passenger numbers continue to gradually increase over the summer and into fall if the threat is diminished. The airlines have changed their schedules considerably and eliminated flights from airports across the country. As airlines rebuild their schedules for the new demand environment, it is critical to use our air service to keep it and help our economy grow. We continue to appreciate the support of our community choosing to fly ROA and not driving out of market to fly.”