Albany International Airport Sees Minor Uptick in Boardings

COLONIE — Boardings at Albany International Airport are creeping back up although they are a long way from where they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are seeing an incremental increase,” airport spokesman Doug Myers said. On May 11, there were 427 boardings, compared to the average of 100 per day in prior weeks. They expect to see 600 or more per day by next week.

Either way, the current overall rate represents an approximately 95 percent drop from the airport’s usual number of about 4,100 boardings per day. Boardings, also known as enplanements when you add in crew members, represents each time a person boards an aircraft at the airport. There generally are an equal number of people getting off of arriving planes at the airport.

There were 1.5 million enplanements in 2019 at Albany International. “We expect that to be considerably less,” Myers said of what 2020 will look like.

Enplanements are an important marker for the airport’s finances. The facility gets $4.50 for each enplanement, and it gets landing fees paid by the airlines that use it.

Other income sources include concession rentals as well as parking fees. The parking lots have been consolidated since the pandemic and all of the food concessions except for a Dunkin’ doughnut shop are closed.

Flights from the airport have been sharply reduced, with airlines serving only the major hubs such as Detroit, Chicago or Charlotte.

They haven’t seen airlines pull out service entirely though.

The airport is served by major carriers including United, Delta American, Southwest, Jet Blue, Frontier and Allegiant.

And some are already looking to bring in more customers if and when the pandemic eases.

Southwest on Tuesday rolled out a promotion with a fare sale through June 12 that includes an array of bonus points for frequent and business flyers.

“We’re all eager to move again in a new chapter that feels more familiar,” Southwest Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Ryan Green said in announcing the sale.

[email protected] 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU

———

©2020 the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.)

Visit the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) at www.timesunion.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.