Piedmont Triad International Airport Sees Dramatic Drop in Travel in March Amid Pandemic Shutdowns

GREENSBORO — Business and government shutdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic were just beginning in March but already the impact has been felt in a dramatic drop in passenger traffic at Piedmont Triad International Airport.

PTI released figures Tuesday that show the number of passengers leaving from the airport was down by about 55% in March compared with March 2019.

The number of passengers dropped from 88,613 to 40,244 for the month.

And that number is only likely to get worse because the business and government shutdowns became near total in April.

According to PTI figures, American and Delta airlines, which both carried about 33,000 passengers each during March 2019, saw their passenger levels drop by more than 50% this March.

January and February had been good months for the airport so year-to-date figures don't yet show such drastic declines, but already the total number of passengers through the first quarter of 2020 was down by 17%, from 232,000 in 2019 to 193,240 for 2020.

National air travel figures have already declined dramatically in April, according to reports.

CNN reported that by the first week in April domestic airlines had cut their capacity by 71% and only about 1 in 10 seats that do fly are occupied, according to an industry group.

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