HEBRON, Ky. — The ribbon-cutting Friday for Sun Country Airline's new service to Minneapolis from Cincinnati could be considered a coming-out party for the entire airline industry, according to airport CEO Candace McGraw.
"It's almost a liberation,'' McGraw said, referring to the robust start to the summer travel season at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). "Leisure travel is definitely back.''
As the pandemic wanes, vaccinations increase and some restrictions are lifted, consumers are rushing out to eat, drink, shop - and, yes, vacation.
The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport expects to recover 80% of pre-pandemic passenger volumes this summer as a result of the surge in leisure travel, McGaw told The Enquirer at the airport Friday.
In response, the airport so far this year has added eight new routes and two new carriers: Alaska Airlines and Sun Country, which Friday began it's twice-weekly nonstop service to Minneapolis. The first passengers cheered against a backdrop of balloons and other party favors at the ribbon-cutting.
Alaska is next in line for takeoff, scheduled to launch its new daily nonstop service from CVG to Seattle on Thursday.
"We know Cincinnati is a big destination (for travelers) from the Twin Cities, and we want to be an option for them,'' said Grant Whitney, Sun Country's chief revenue officer. "So many people are excited to start traveling again.''
Last Saturday, 1.7 million passengers moved through security check points at the nation's airports, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
That was the largest number in more than a year, although still shy of the 2.4 million passengers passing through airports at the same time in 2019, TSA reported.
Locally, CVG has seen an average of 7,200-8,000 departing passengers each day - about half the volume from the same period in 2019, airport officials said.
But those figures are expected to grow exponentially as airlines begin to offer a slew of new leisure destinations from CVG, including:
- United Airlines on May 27-28 will begin flying to four new destinations: Pensacola, Fla.; Hilton Head and Charleston, S.C.; and Portland, Maine.
- Allegiant Air will begin direct nonstop flights to Key West on June 9.
- Southwest is adding two new destinations – Sarasota and Fort Myers, Fla. - beginning June 12.
- And American Airlines is adding service to Boston in November.
By the end of the year, the airport is expected to have recovered about 60% of the passenger volume it had in 2019 before the pandemic began, largely because corporate travel has been slower to recover than leisure travel.
But that's still well ahead of dire predictions from last spring at the height of the pandemic when the airline industry saw passenger traffic plummet more than 90%.
At the time, many industry analysts predicted airline passenger traffic wouldn't fully recover for another 3-5 years.
"Things potentially are coming back a little bit faster,'' Sun Country's Whitney said.
Source link
