Travel: San Jose airport activity soars in July to highest COVID-era level.
SAN JOSE >> San Jose International Airport has soared to its highest level of passenger activity during the coronavirus era, but remains far below the record heights the travel hub achieved before the virus outbreak.
Buoyed by an improving economy, more nonstop flights and an easing of COVID-19-linked business shutdowns, Silicon Valley’s airport has enjoyed a boom in travel so far in 2021.
In a parallel improvement, Oakland International Airport during July enjoyed its strongest month since before the onset of the lockdowns and restrictions that were ushered in by the coronavirus.
During July, about 818,300 passengers traveled through San Jose International Airport, up 8.2% from the roughly 756,100 passengers who arrived at or departed from the transportation complex in June, according to official airport figures.
The July numbers represent a huge improvement from the numbers in July 2020, which was just a few months after government-ordered business shutdowns went into place. The July 2021 total is slightly more than triple the number for the same month last year.
However, the passenger volume in July is down 24.5% compared with the 1.08 million passenger trips through San Jose airport in February 2020, which was the last month before the business shutdowns began.
A turnaround in travel trips is a welcome counterpoint to what happened last year when the COVID-19-triggered lockdowns were in force for most of the year.
During 2020, San Jose airport passenger trips totaled 4.7 million passengers — down a jawdropping 70% from the recordhigh level of 15.7 million transits in 2019.
From 2013 through 2019, passenger transit increased for seven consecutive years, a winning streak that was shattered due to the pandemic disruptions and restrictions in 2020.
So far, 2021 is on pace to top last year’s total, but it’s also possible that the airport will post two consecutive years of passenger trips below the benchmark of 10 million annual passengers.
Another major wildcard: It’s unclear how the delta variant of the virus might impact economic activity, including air travel.
The last time annual passenger trip totals suffered through an extended multiyear stretch of less than 10 million trips a year was from 2008 through 2015 in the years after the Great Recession, based on statistics dating back to 1998 that were compiled by the state Division of Aeronautics.
The 4.7 million passenger trips figure for 2020 was the lowest on record, the state agency’s reports show.
In recent months, airlines have launched a resumption of several nonstop flights to big U.S. cities. The resumed flights connect San Jose with New York City, Chicago and Boston.