Passenger traffic rebounded in June from COVID-19 lows. Airlines are adding flights
Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) passenger traffic grew by 32 percent in June to 52,845 passengers, compared to 39,988 passengers in May.
Even though passenger traffic is rebounding from its pandemic lows, it is still far off the pace set in June 2019 when SRQ was one of the fastest-growing airports in the United States. Compared to last year, passenger traffic at SRQ was down 64 percent. Year-to-date, airport passenger traffic is down 28 percent, compared to a year ago.
Airlines have previously announced additional service at the airport:
▪ JetBlue will be adding nonstop service to Newark, N.J., starting Aug. 6 . This destination, not previously served from SRQ by JetBlue, will be in addition to the nonstop service provided to New York’s John F. Kennedy airport and the seasonal service to Boston.
▪ American Airlines added nonstop flights to New York’s LaGuardia airport starting July 11. LaGuardia is a route not previously served by American Airlines at SRQ. American also brought back service to Philadelphia, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and Washington D.C., in July.
▪ Frontier Airlines recently announced new nonstop flights to Chicago O’Hare. Frontier started service to Cleveland and Philadelphia on June 6 and Cincinnati and Chicago service on July 4.
▪ Delta Air Lines added a third daily flight to Atlanta on June 11 and a fourth daily flight on July 2 .
▪ Allegiant, SRQ’s largest ultra-low-cost-carrier, continues to provide a minimum of two times weekly service to 13 destinations. In August, Allegiant plans to return service to Allentown, Pa., Nashville, Des Moines, Flint, Mich., Fort Wayne, Ind., and Rockford, Ill.
Some of the safety measures implemented at SRQ include increased janitorial staff, plastic shields at all customer service counters, hand sanitizer stations, and social distancing markers in queuing lines.
Employees, tenants, and passengers are required to wear protective face coverings to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“It is great to see passengers safely following CDC guidelines while traveling through our airport. This past Saturday we had 44 commercial service flights operate from SRQ and new destinations continue to be added each week,” said Rick Piccolo, president and CEO of the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.
“Over the past few months, we have worked with our tenants and the TSA to implement multiple layers of safety measures to protect passengers. We understand the concerns the public may have when flying and realize it is critical to ensure the airport is a safe and clean environment for travelers,” Piccolo said.
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 2:42 PM.
