Passenger totals plunge during holidays at Bradley, other New England airports
Passenger traffic during the first Christmas/New Year’s season of the coronavirus crisis plunged about 60 percent at New England’s six largest airports, including Connecticut’s Bradley International, according to data released Tuesday by the Transportation Security Administration.
From Dec. 18 to Jan. 3, TSA officers screened more than 470,000 passengers at Bradley in Windsor Locks, Boston Logan International, T.F. Green Airport in Rhode Island, Portland International Jetport in Maine, Manchester-Boston Regional in New Hampshire and Burlington International in Vermont. During the same period in 2019, TSA screened more than 1.2 million at those six airports.
In the same time frame at Bradley, about 64,000 passengers were screened, for a daily average of nearly 3,800. The total represented a 63 percent decline from the 175,000 passengers screened at the airport between Dec. 19, 2019 and Jan. 5, 2020.
“TSA officers worked long hours during the holiday period to ensure safe and secure holiday travel,” Bob Allison, TSA federal security director for Massachusetts and Maine, said in a statement. “Our checkpoints were fully staffed so passengers could quickly and safely get through security to get to and from their holiday destinations.”
The plummeting passenger counts did not come as a surprise after the precipitous decline in air travel seen earlier last year and calls from public officials to avoid unnecessary travel during the holidays. Aviation officials said that they have worked to make airports as safe as possible.
During the holiday period, an average of about 27,600 passengers per day were screened at the six airports. On Dec. 27, the busiest day of the season, nearly 36,000 travelers passed through TSA security checkpoints in New England, including about 5,000 at Bradley.
Boston Logan again ranked as New England’s busiest airport. More than 329,000 passengers were screened there during the holiday period, equal to a daily average of about 19,000.
Since the start of the pandemic, airports and
airlines have been grappling with steep decreases in demand, although the holiday turnout shows some recovery in the past months.
A total of about 2.1 million travelers passed through Bradley in the first 10 months of 2020, down 63 percent from the same period in 2019.
U.S. airlines carried about 30 million domestic and international passengers in October, down 62 percent from the same period last year — but about 10 times more than a record low of 3 million in April, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
TSA officials said they expect daily passenger traffic to rise steadily and “follow seasonal patterns.” But they anticipate that volumes will remain well below pre-pandemic levels through most of 2021.
Managing risks
On its website, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises potential travelers that “postponing travel and staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.”
Given the number of passengers still flying, aviation officials said that they have ramped up health and safety measures in response to the virus.
TSA said it requires all of its officers to wear face masks and gloves while on duty. Face shields are also mandated when there is not an acrylic barrier in place.
As vaccinations become available for TSA officers, the agency said it will still require staff to wear personal protective equipment that
meets CDC guidelines. When they do a patdown, officers must use a fresh pair of gloves.
Among other measures, many airports, including Bradley, have launched on-site coronavirus testing .
Travelers coming to Connecticut can shorten a mandatory 10-day quarantine if they can show written proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken in the 72 hours before their trip or anytime after arriving. The quarantine does not apply to those coming to Connecticut from New York, New Jersey or Rhode Island.
Aviation officials also underline the importance of physical distancing when possible, heightened hygiene and cleaning standards, and mandates for passengers to wear masks while in terminals and on planes.
While such actions have helped to reduce the chances of contracting or transmitting the virus through air travel, they do not eliminate them, according to public health experts.
“Given the high rates of COVID-19 nationally coupled with the close proximity between individuals when airports and flights are crowded, air travel may be contributing to further infection transmission,” said Dr. David Banach, an infectiousdisease physician and hospital epidemiologist in the UConn Health system.
“With widespread community transmission of COVID-19 in Connecticut and nationally, it can be difficult to tease out how much infection spread is attributed to air travel, group gatherings associated with holidays and the colder weather forcing people indoors,” he said.