Port Authority predicts big drops in travel crowds at NYC-area airports
No turkey trot through New York’s airports this year.
The Port Authority predicted Friday there’ll be more than one million fewer passengers bustling through Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports this Thanksgiving holiday — a massive drop in the usual crush of airline travelers.
In the five days between next Wednesday and Sunday, Nov. 29, the PA estimates about 500,000 passengers will be traveling through the airports.
That is about 71% down from the 1,721,000 travelers who packed the airports during the holiday in 2019, the Port Authority says.
The plummet at JFK is predicted to be 74%, with 197,000 passengers passing through compared with the 756,000 who crammed into the airport last Thanksgiving.
Similar drops are predicted for Newark, which the PA expects will handle over 217,000 travelers this holiday period compared with more than 592,000 last year, a drop of 63%.
LaGuardia — where new terminal construction and the usual traffic made navigation hellish during the holidays last year — this Thanksgiving is expected to have around 90,000 travelers, down 75% from a little over 367,000 people who crowded into the airport during last year’s holiday.
The Port Authority’s travel dive projection comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautioned against all travel amid troubling surges in COVID-19 cases across the country.
“As part of our nation’s greatest traditions, we need to consider the safest way to celebrate this holiday amidst this critical phase of the COVID-19 pandemic,’ said Dr. Henry Walke, who has overseen the CDC’s day-to-day COVID-19 response.
In the last two weeks, major airlines have added thousands of flights to Thanksgiving week schedules trying to capture last-second buyers.
It may be a lost cause.
“Certainly with the increase in infection rates really throughout the country we’ve seen a dampening of demand,” said American Airlines President Robert Isom at an airline industry conference on Thursday. “It’s too soon to tell how deep and how long there may be a depressed environment, but we’ve seen some weakening of bookings.”
With News Wires Services