Austin Airport Passenger Traffic Drops 82 Percent Amid COVID-19

Tony Cantu
Updated ·4 min read

AUSTIN, TX — Activity at the nation's airports has yielded an accurate barometer of the coronavirus-stilled economy, and the Austin airport is no different with a dramatic drop in passenger traffic of 82 percent in June, as officials revealed on Tuesday.

The corrosive economic effects of the pandemic have ground much business activity to a halt along with air travel. According to the most recent statistics for June, passenger at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport dropped by 81.9 percent from the comparable period last year, with 291,578 passengers flying during the month, officials said.

June enplanements — the act or process of boarding an aircraft — totaled 150,195, airport officials said, down 81.6 percent. Airport officials broke down the numbers per carrier:

  • Southwest Airlines passengers totaled 130,592, down 75.7 percent.

  • American Airlines passengers totaled 73,703, down 71.4 percent.

  • Delta Air Lines passengers totaled 20,968, down 90.8 percent.

  • Allegiant Air passengers totaled 16,223, down 31.8 percent.

  • Alaska Airlines passengers totaled 15,465, down 72.2 percent.

  • United Airlines passengers totaled 14,501, down 93.5 percent.

  • Frontier Airlines passengers totaled 11,497, down 88.5 percent.

  • JetBlue Airways passengers totaled 4,714, down 90.5 percent.

  • Spirit Airlines passengers totaled 3,278, down 95.8 percent.

  • Sun Country passengers totaled 637, down 85.8 percent.

Conversely, air cargo was up slightly from last year's comparable period, posting an increase of 22.6 percent with 17.5 million pounds of goods transported. But international cargo took a severe hit, down 98.7 percent with a mere 21,565 pounds of merchandise transported in June from the same month last year. Some air cargo carriers fared better than others, as an airport breakdown shows:

  • Federal Express carried 7,476,350 pounds, up 1.2 percent.

  • Atlas Air carried 6,409,868 pounds. No comparative data were provided.

  • United Parcel Service carried 2,632,224 pounds, down 18.6 percent.

Airport officials added that Air Services transferred 359,079 pounds of mail, down 52.6 percent and 285,715 pounds of belly freight, down 84.4 percent. In the realm of Aircraft Operations, General Aviation operations totaled 3,042, down 3.9 percent. Combined operations (including commercial and military) totaled 8,565, down 51 percent.

In addition to providing comparisons from June 2019, airport officials also tracked activity from January to June:

  • Passenger Activity: Total passenger traffic for January – June 2020 was 3,696,782 down 55.3 percent, compared to January – June 2019. January – June 2020 enplanements totaled 1,839,922, down 55.7 percent.

  • Southwest Airlines passengers totaled 1,232,395, down 57 percent.

  • American Airlines passengers totaled 736,946, down 50.7 percent.

  • Delta Air Lines passengers totaled 502.868, down 55.2 percent.

  • United Airlines passengers totaled 500,037, down 58.9 percent.

  • Spirit Airlines passengers totaled 212,946, down 32.8 percent.

  • Alaska Airlines passengers totaled 140,325, down 53 percent.

  • Frontier Airlines passengers totaled 132,782, down 62.7 percent.

  • JetBlue Airways passengers totaled 127,086, down 54.7 percent.

  • Allegiant Air passengers totaled 40,065, down 62.7 percent.

  • British Airways passengers totaled 29,217.

  • Lufthansa passengers totaled 15,883.

  • Air Canada passengers totaled 10,317.

  • AeroMexico passengers totaled 9,915.

  • Norwegian Air passengers totaled 3,474.

  • Sun Country Airlines passengers totaled 1,280, down 88.1 percent.

  • Swift Air passengers totaled 928.

  • VivaAerobus passengers totaled 197.

  • Miami Air passengers totaled 121.January – June 2020.

  • Air cargo totaled 89,431,493 pounds, up 0.4 percent compared to January – June 2019.

  • International air cargo totaled 4,631,976 pounds, down 54.3 percent.

  • Federal Express carried 45,435,748 pounds, down 4 percent.

  • Atlas Air carried 16,239,365 pounds.

  • United Parcel Service carried 15,732,615 pounds, down 14.4 percent.

  • Air Services transferred 3,648,078 pounds of mail, down 32.3 percent and 6,773,788 pounds of belly freight, down 39.4 percent.

  • Aircraft Operations: General Aviation operations totaled 15,644 for January – June 2020, down 26.3 percent. Combined operations (including commercial and military) totaled 66,637, down 35.2 percent.

This article originally appeared on the Austin Patch