Alabama airports slowly recovering from COVID slump

Airport site visitors in Alabama plummeted in 2020 at first of the COVID-19 pandemic, and hasn’t but recovered.

The variety of individuals flying from Alabama’s 4 largest airports dropped by greater than half between 2019 and 2020. There was some bounce again in 2021 – and thru the primary a part of 2022 – however the numbers nonetheless aren’t the place they have been earlier than the pandemic.

The newest obtainable enplanement information from the Federal Aviation Administration – information that reveals the variety of passengers who boarded an airplane at a given airport throughout the yr – reveals an enormous drop in passengers at Alabama airports in 2020. In 2019, that state’s 4 largest airports – Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Worldwide, Huntsville Worldwide-Carl T Jones Area, Cell Regional and Montgomery Regional (Dannelly Area) – noticed a complete of greater than 2.7 million enplanements.

In 2020, that quantity dropped to simply 1.1 million, a decline of 59%. As of 2021, the quantity was again as much as 1.9 million, an enormous annual enhance however nonetheless a 30% discount from 2019.

None of Alabama’s airports was immune from the COVID collapse.

[Can’t see the chart? Click here.]

Birmingham’s airport – the most important within the state – went from 1.5 million enplanements in 2019, and trending up, down to simply 622,000 in 2020. It creeped again up above 1 million in 2021, however remains to be nicely shy of pre-pandemic ranges.

Information from Birmingham-Shuttlesworth reveals air site visitors has continued to rebound by means of the primary a part of 2022, however nonetheless hasn’t hit pre-pandemic ranges. That information reveals the airport has seen slightly below 795,000 whole passengers by means of April of 2022, or about 198,000 per thirty days. In 2019, previous to the pandemic, the airport averaged about 258,000 passengers per thirty days. This information consists of each departing and arriving passengers, whereas federal enplanement information consists of solely these departing from an airport.

Huntsville’s airport noticed the most important relative lower in air site visitors in 2020, with a 62% decline yr over yr. It went from 703,000 enplanements in 2019 right down to 269,000 in 2020. In 2021 the quantity was again as much as 450,000.

Huntsville Worldwide additionally has month-to-month information on whole passengers. Whereas that information doesn’t embrace the early elements of 2022, it does present a transparent enhance in site visitors by means of the second half of 2021. The airport averaged 41,000 whole passengers by means of the primary three months of the yr, in contrast 101,000 within the ultimate three months.

The tendencies have been comparable in Cell and Montgomery, each of which see considerably much less site visitors total than the state’s different airports.

Do you could have an concept for a knowledge story about Alabama? E mail Ramsey Archibald at rarchibald@al.com, and comply with him on Twitter @RamseyArchibald. Learn extra Alabama information tales right here.