Planning a Summer Vacation? Here’s What to Expect at Lehigh Valley International Airport
With the summer travel season fast approaching, Lehigh Valley International Airport is preparing for a continued increase in passenger traffic.
In March, the airport in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, reported 78,550 passengers passing through LVIA, the highest total for that month since 2004 and a 7.3% increase from March 2022. If traffic increases as predicted, it could surpass last summer’s numbers when 92,652 passed through LVIA in July, which were the highest numbers since June 2001.
“We have been seeing the uptick in passenger travel and heading into the summer we anticipate a very busy travel season,” said Tom Stoudt, executive director of the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority, which oversees LVIA. “The demand for air travel has only increased over last year, so we’re still seeing a lot of interest in people taking trips and traveling. That’s really compounded on how a lot of the carriers are still rebuilding from the pandemic, in terms of having enough aircraft and having flight crew members to really run the schedules.”
Nationwide, the number of summer travelers is expected to rise once again as more people put the pandemic behind them. In its summer travel forecast, Expedia said flight searches are up 25% overall for June through August compared with the same time last year, and interest is up triple digits for international destinations.
The parent company of Allegiant Air, one of the four airlines serving LVIA, is expecting increased bookings this summer.
“Searches for our all-important travel season during spring break and summer are up by 40% to 75% versus last year, which, as we all know, was a historic high year for bookings and revenue,” Scott DeAngelo, the company’s chief marketing officer, said during Allegiant Travel Co.’s most recent earnings call. “Put simply and in conclusion, Allegiant has a trifecta when it comes to our balanced customer base. We have a solid core of frequent flyers who show no signs of retracting their travel behavior with us in the upcoming year regardless of the economic climate.”
Numbers from March showed a 9.7% increase from last year for Allegiant at LVIA. American increased 44.4% and United jumped 27.7%, while Delta passenger traffic declined 32%. Delta, which has two daily flights to Atlanta from LVIA, reported record bookings for the summer in its latest earnings call, and is adding seating on international flights.
Stoudt was excited about Allegiant’s recent announcement of a nonstop route from LVIA to Denver because it makes the airport a bigger base for trips to western destinations. Service begins June 15.
“We’re starting our Denver service with Allegiant, and that has received really an overwhelming response,” Stoudt said. “The amount of airline bookings that we’ve seen very early for that route here has been just tremendous. Now we’ve got nonstop flights to Denver so getting west has really peaked, clearly based on the bookings. So that’s also going to be adding to the mix of the Florida and southern destinations.”
Meanwhile, the airport’s expansion project, which will help expedite passengers through the airport’s security checkpoint, is nearing completion.
“We’re still looking at the summer opening,” Stoudt said. “We’re about 85% complete, give or take a percentage point or two, but work is still progressing toward a summer opening. We’re excited to bring the checkpoint online for sure. It will certainly have a real benefit to the air travelers using ABE.”
Started in 2021, the $35 million project will feature a four-lane Transportation Security Administration checkpoint and the separation of outbound and inbound passenger flow, along with better air flow and enhanced Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. It will more than double the passenger screening volume from 300 per hour to 740 per hour.
©2023 The Morning Call. Visit mcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
