Norfolk airport traffic still down by half

NORFOLK — Norfolk International Airport saw more than 56% fewer passengers in January than a year ago, before traffic began to drop off significantly because of the COVID-19 pandemic beginning last March.

The airport said Thursday that just 121,720 people traveled through it last month. There were 803 fewer departing flights in January than a year ago. Of the 1,267 departures that did take place, only four routes saw an increase — to Dallas Fort Worth on American Airlines, to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on American Airlines, to Detroit on Delta and to Nashville on Southwest. New service from Boutique Air launched with 57 flights from Norfolk and Baltimore during the month.

Boutique isn’t scheduled for any departures in March, though, as it takes a temporary hiatus because of lower seasonal and pandemic-related demand, according to Charles Braden, the airport’s director of market development. He said the airline plans to return soon.

A few airlines are reviving routes in March that they haven’t flown since the pandemic’s beginning, including Delta which, so far, plans to bring back a single daily flight to New York’s LaGuardia airport and United, which is reviving daily nonstop service to Houston, Braden said.

He said Southwest plans to offer daily service to Denver beginning March 11 through at least April 11. Allegiant, which just announced new service to Boston beginning in May through at least mid-August, revived twice-weekly flights to Jacksonville, Florida, in January and added routes to Columbus, Ohio, and Pittsburgh to begin in June.

Overall, the airport expects “lagging demand to continue until the vaccination rate is higher,” Braden said.

Monthly traffic has been off by as much as 94% year-over-year, and never less than half, since the effects of the pandemic fully took hold over the travel industry.

Traffic fell off 52% in December and November, compared to the same months a year ago. There were 53.5% fewer travelers in October, 53% in September, 59% in August, 64% in July, 76% in June, 87% in May and 94% in April. In March 2020, traffic was off by 49% at the onset of the global health crisis.

For the full 2020 calendar year, traffic dropped more than 55% at the Norfolk airport to 1.78 million passengers. Richmond International Airport saw a steeper 61% drop last year to 1.7 million travelers.