RETURNING TO THE SKIES
Plenty more travelers, many vaccinated and eager to fly, showing up at San Antonio International Airport
“Even as traffic is bouncing back, it’s all leisure travel, all low-cost travel, and there’s very little whiff of any real business travel coming back.”
Joe Brancatelli, business travel columnist, on U.S. air travel
Passengers — many of them vaccinated against COVID-19 and itching to travel again — are flying from San Antonio International Airport in the largest numbers since the pandemic upended the aviation industry 13 months ago.
More than 11,000 travelers passed through the airport’s Transportation Security Administration checkpoints April 12, the highest number since March 10, 2020.
From April 6 to 12, their daily numbers averaged 70 percent of the passenger count in the same period in 2019. That counts as a marked improvement. Most days over the last year, passenger traffic was down between 60 percent and 70 percent from the year before.
“I think there is definitely a demand for travel. Coupled with that is the number of people getting their vaccinations and feeling more comfortable flying,” said Brian Pratte, chief air services development officer at San Antonio International.
Airports across the the country are seeing many more passengers come through their gates. Nationally, the number of departing travelers has exceeded 1.5 million on some days in March and April, the first time it’s crossed that threshold since the pandemic started.
Still, the air travel industry’s recovery is far from full bloom. Nationally, passenger counts April 4 to 12 averaged 60 percent of levels the year before.
Pratte attributes San Antonio’s stronger numbers to more vacationers flying to the region for outdoor activities that are seen as COVID-SAFE, such as exploring the city’s Spanish missions or visiting the Hill Country.
“While a lot of airlines talk about flying to beach and mountain communities, people are also coming to San Antonio,” he said.
On Thursday, a steady stream of passengers walked through the airport’s Terminals A and B.
Two men — they declined to give their names — were flying to Las Vegas for five days of fun and gambling. One said he was fully vaccinated and not worried about flying.
Another traveler, Sarah Clayton of San Antonio, hadn’t flown since the start of the pandemic. She said she had to fly to Orlando, Fla., to visit her 85-year-old father, who was recovering from COVID-19 in a rehabilitation hospital.
“I am scared about the risk of catching COVID while flying but need to see my father,” said Clayton, who’s also fully vaccinated.
With renewed interest in air travel, carriers are restoring some flights at the airport — after cutting the number in half last year.
Southwest Airlines, the largest carrier at San Antonio International, is flying 28 departures a day, up from 16 in February, according to a company spokesman. He said Southwest plans 30 daily flights in May and 37 starting in June.
Airline analysts say the passenger increases are fueled in part by April 2 guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said it was safe for vaccinated passengers to fly domestically without quarantining upon arrival.
But airlines will continue to hurt financially until business travelers return in force to the skies.
On Thursday, Delta Air Lines reported a $1.2 billion loss for the first quarter, though executives said the carrier could break even in June as passenger numbers improve.
American Airlines said Tuesday that its first quarter losses may exceed $1.2 billion when results are announced this week.
Business travelers generate more revenue for airlines than leisure travelers because they aren’t as price-conscious, said business travel columnist Joe Brancatelli, who runs the website Joesentme.
“Even as traffic is bouncing back, it’s all leisure travel, all low-cost travel, and there’s very little whiff of any real business travel coming back,” he said.
Travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt said airline executives he has talked to expect that business travel will be slow to recover.
“The consensus among airlines is that it will take three years to get back to close to 2019 levels — that puts us somewhere in 2024,” said Harteveldt, president of the Atmosphere Research Group.
Even then, he said, business travel may not fully recover because of Zoom and other online platforms for business meetings. Shutdowns early in the pandemic forced companies to rely much more on virtual meetings, and many employers will stick with them.
San Antonio’s airport has seen the return of some business travelers, but they’re easily outnumbered by tourists.
Pratte believes San Antonio International could get close to pre-pandemic passenger levels by the summer, though he said some people likely will continue to stay home.
“There is still a percentage of the population who does not want to travel right now,” he said, “I think we will be getting very close to 2019 levels, assuming there are no other (COVID-19) waves or anything like that.
“I don’t think it is going to take a couple of years to get back to pre-pandemic levels.”