Duluth Airport Passenger Count Down 93% Due to COVID-19
One of the hardest-hit industries because of the COVID-19 pandemic is travel, and you can clearly see how hard by looking at airline passenger counts.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Bureau Of Transportation Statistics, passenger counts from the Duluth International Airport have dropped dramatically from 2019 to 2020.
With the latest numbers available, during May 2020 there were 796 passengers compared to 12,002 during 2019, a 93% drop. There were only 60 flights during May of 2020 compared to 247 during the same time in 2019, a 75% drop.
Nationwide domestic and international passenger count is down 89.6% from May 2019, with 8.2 million domestic passengers and 0.2 million international passengers hitting the skies in May 2020.
Delta and United Airlines still fly daily flights out of the Duluth International Airport to Minneapolis and Chicago. The airport and the airlines have stepped up their cleaning and safety guidelines to help passengers feel at ease while traveling.
Hopefully, the numbers show some improvement in June - August as more people feel comfortable flying, but there's no doubt that airline travel will be down for some time to come.