Airport reshuffles as COVID takes toll

Boardings remain far below normal at Albany International

Passenger boardings continued at a fraction of their normal levels at Albany International Airport as would-be travelers stay put. The airport is averaging 22.5 daily departures in December, half the nearly 45 daily flights in averaged at the beginning of the year, before the COVID -19 pandemic, according to figures released during the monthly meeting of the Albany County Airport Authority.

Boardings are down by more than 70 percent, according to airport figures.

But cargo shipments have been running 10 percent above budget, likely thanks in part to a surge in online shipping. UPS has quadrupled its flights to Albany most weekdays during the holiday period, according to airport officials.

But the lack of passengers in the terminal as a result of the pandemic led concessions operators to close most of their shops. On Wednesday, the board approved a plan to base rents on a percentage of sales through the end of 2021, instead of levying a minimum annual guarantee plus a share of sales above a certain level.

Additionally, the board also approved a contract with SUNY Upstate Medical University and Quadrant Biosciences to provide voluntary saliva testing for COVID -19 to airport employees, with plans to begin offering such tests to arriving and departing passengers as well, at a cost not to exceed $100,000.

The airport has managed to avoid layoffs by redeploying employees to such tasks as trimming trees at the ends of the runways and striping newly repaved parking lots at the airport, airport spokesman Doug Myers said.

The airport has also begun receiving shipments of the Pfizer vaccine for COVID -19 for delivery to area hospitals, Myers said.