May 16—Traffic at the Bellingham International Airport has returned to pre-pandemic levels as it appears Canadian are once again using it for travel.
Last month 29,625 people flew out of the Bellingham airport, according to data collected by the Port of Bellingham. Not only is it well above the totals for April 2020 and April 2021, but it topped the pre-pandemic total of 28,146 in April 2019. It's also the busiest month so far in 2022, according to the data.
The boost came in the first month that key COVID-19 testing restrictions were lifted at the border. Port of Bellingham's Aviation Director Sunil Harman previous said that initial bookings for April travel by Canadians looked strong and he expected that to continue.
One other big different between April 2019 and April 2022 is the arrival of Southwest Airlines, which offers daily flights to Las Vegas and Oakland, California.
While April was busy, Bellingham's airport traffic for the first four months of the year is 24% lower than the same period in 2019.
With airport traffic is recovering, Bellingham will continue to face stiff competition from nearby airports. At Paine Field in Everett, Alaska Airlines will start operating a full schedule in June, adding direct flights to San Francisco to raise its daily departure total to 18.
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