Despite having seen a near disappearance of activity due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Phoneix-Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona is now seeing travellers returning with more passengers on Labor Day weekend than in 2019.
When compared to the same months a year before, passenger traffic at the airport was down 93% in April and 61% in May respectively. However beginning in June, the airport has seen that trend reverse and has continued to show significant gains in passenger activity throughout the summer. In August 2020, the airport was down 35% when compared to last year.
This increase in traffic can in part be attributed to Allegian Air, Gateway Airport’s predominant air carrier. The airline serves more than 45 nonstop destinations from greater Phoenix and welcomed approximately 1.8 million passengers in 2019. Many Gateway Airport passengers have expressed appreciation for how the airport responded to teh COVID-19 crisis and are excited about Allegiant’s record low fares. Select destinations are as low as $29 each way.
“Gateway Airport and Allegiant have done a good job ensuring that high touch areas in the terminal remain clean, passengers wear masks and everyone respects social distancing,” said Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport’s Executive Director and CEO, J. Brian O’Neill. “Our ‘Stay Healthy Fly Safe’ initiative has helped stop the spread of COVID-19 and helped build consume confidence in the safety of air travel.”
Demonstrating its commitment to the Greater Phoenix region, Allegiant has added dozens of new nonstop routes during the past two years. Most recently, Allegiant announced that as of 19 November it will be operating flights between Gateway Airport and Santa Maria, California. This will connect visitors to the Santa Maria wine country just outside of Santa Barbara, great hiking and other popular activities along the Pacific Coast.
