SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — Last year passenger traffic at the Shreveport Airport fell by more than a half, in keeping with other airports around the world that saw business plummet as the coronavirus pandemic restricted travel.
The Shreveport Times reported that the number of passengers boarding planes in 2020 at the airport fell by 53.49% compared to 2019 and the number of arriving passengers fell by 52.80% as compared to the previous year.
The Regional Airport Marketing and Public Relations Manager Mark Crawford told the newspaper that the number of seats even available to prospective fliers fell during 2020. Some airlines stopped selling middle seats as a way to assist in social distancing. The newspaper reports that some of the airlines that fly to Shreveport dropped the number of flights they had available or discontinued specific flights altogether.
“We had far fewer seats available in 2020 than we did in 2019,″ Crawford said. “There was no way to even get to 2019 numbers. There weren’t the same number of seats.″
January started off well with passenger traffic up 11.61% over 2019. But with the onset of the pandemic and the stay-at-home orders around the country traffic fell in March. By April traffic was down 94.21% over 2019.
But in a bit of good news, the airport announced earlier this week that Allegiant Air will soon begin service from Shreveport to Los Angeles. The flights will be on Mondays and Fridays starting in July.
“The addition of Allegiant’s Los Angeles season service is a great opportunity for the traveling public at a great price,’’ Shreveport Airport Authority Director of Airports Wade A. Davis told the newspaper.
