Traffic improving but still down by more than half at Norfolk airport
NORFOLK — Passenger traffic at Norfolk International Airport was down nearly 53% in September to 144,360 travelers compared to 306,667 a year ago.
The pandemic and reticence among many people to travel by airplane has led to steep drops in traffic at most airports. From January to September, just 1.3 million passengers have used the airport versus nearly 3 million during the same time a year ago. The numbers, though, have been improving at Norfolk airport and elsewhere each month.
Traffic year-over-year at Norfolk was down 94% in April, 87% in May, 75% in June, 64% in July and 59% in August.
At Richmond International Airport, which has yet to report its September numbers, passenger traffic was down 96% in April, 92% in May, 80% in June, 70% in July and 69% in August.
On Sunday, for the first time since March 16, more than 1 million travelers went through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at the nation’s airports. A year ago, more than 2 million people were recorded going through the
checkpoints every day.
The airport’s latest annual audit notes the airport’s fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019, “began on a high note,” with passenger traffic up 6.3% through February. The pandemic, though, led to a 77% drop between March and June. Overall traffic dropped 23% in the 12 months ending June 30 to 2.9 million passengers. The airport’s largest source of revenue, parking, was $13.6 million, off by $3.3
million compared to a year ago.
Revenue from rental car operations dropped 23% to nearly $5.6 million and since March, the rental car agencies per their contracts have been paying the airport based on a percentage of sales rather than a guaranteed minimum amount until monthly traffic is at least 75% of what it was a year before. The airport offered the same relief to its other retail, dining and advertis
ing concessionaires through June.
While overall operating revenues were down by $5.4 million, it received nearly $18 million in government grants, largely COVID-19 relief, compared to $4.8 million a year ago. That boosted total revenues to $64.5 million while expenses were $51.3 million. The airport has said it plans to use federal relief funding to pay down debt service and cover salary expenses.