Only The Best Travel
The four awards won under Sandals Resorts International’s portfolio are: World’s Leading All-Inclusive Company 2021: Sandals Resorts International World’s Leading All-Inclusive Resort 2021: Sandals Grenada World’s Leading All-Inclusive Family Resort Brand 2021: Beaches Resorts World’s Leading Caribbean Attraction Company 2021: Island Routes Caribbean Adventures “It …
As flight traffic takes an upward turn during the holidays, staff at the Vancouver International Airport are sharing tips to make pandemic travel a little smoother. According to vice-president Robyn McVicker, about 30,000 passengers passed through YVR every day in October and November. That’s …
After a turbulent year, the Mineta San Jose International Airport is seeing a promising uptick in passengers traveling for the holidays.
Approximately 300,000 passengers passed through the airport from Nov. 19 through Nov. 28. Daily traffic data is not yet available, but airport officials say overall travel volume was nearly three times higher than the same period in 2020.
“Thanksgiving week and the following weekend saw some of the highest volumes since March 2020,” airport spokesperson Keonnis Taylor told San José Spotlight.
Traffic numbers for 2021 are roughly one-third below the 2019 Thanksgiving traffic—546,000 passengers, a record year for the airport. But the increase in holiday travelers is a promising sign the pandemic’s negative impact on air travel is slowly fading—a welcome development for the airport, which saw tremendous decline in passengers during COVID-19.
“One of the things we’ve seen this year driving air traffic right now are the leisure and holiday travelers, which I think is a good sign,” said San Jose Airport Commission Chair Dan Connolly. “I was very happy seeing the numbers we had coming into the Thanksgiving holiday, and I would expect the same traffic during Christmas.”
Taylor said the airport projects holiday traffic to remain strong during December, with approximately 400,000 to 450,000 travelers using SJC.
Air travel across the country dramatically declined during the pandemic. The downtown San Jose airport, with a $1.2 billion debt from its massive expansion and modernization projects, has seen its debt triple in the last decade and experienced a 53{e9f0aada585b9d73d0d08d3c277fd760092386ec23cac37d50f4b8cd792b062a} drop in passengers in April. Even though travelers are returning, the airport is still grappling with financial ramifications from COVID-19. For example, the San Jose City Council recently voted to continue negotiations on how to distribute federal relief money to airport vendors. According to a city memo, many food-related businesses and retailers are struggling to make a profit as recently as October.
The airport doesn’t yet have revenue data available for Thanksgiving week. Taylor said one positive indicator for the airport is the increase in parking revenue. This year, the airport collected $591,900—more than double what was taken in during the same period last year. While travel volume is improving, Taylor noted TSA screened roughly 35{e9f0aada585b9d73d0d08d3c277fd760092386ec23cac37d50f4b8cd792b062a} fewer passengers in recent weeks compared to 2019, which means the recovery is still in progress.
Before the pandemic, holiday travel played a critical role in the economy of downtown San Jose. Scott Knies, executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association, told San José Spotlight it was encouraging to see several events taking place downtown during Thanksgiving, including the opening of Christmas in the Park. He’s waiting to see if the number of visitors downtown climbs back up this year as people return to flying.
“Downtown becomes a regional destination for people coming to celebrate these holiday traditions,” Knies said. “And part of the holiday tradition is traveling to see family.”
Capturing holiday traffic would be a boon for downtown, which is still grappling with a lack of foot traffic and the shuttering of numerous businesses, including the Fairmont San Jose hotel, which once hosted many out of town travelers.
The appearance of the omicron COVID-19 variant in San Francisco could potentially affect people’s willingness to travel during the holidays. But local business leaders say their experiences in the airport puts their minds at ease.
“I had a chance not too long ago to walk through the airport and see what they had done from a health and safety standpoint, and I was so impressed,” said Derrick Seaver, CEO of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce.
President Joe Biden is expected to extend the mask mandate for airplane passengers to mid-March 2022, according to recent news reports. International travelers will also be tested for COVID-19 one day before departing for the U.S. as part of the government’s effort to curb the spread of variants.
Connolly told San José Spotlight he’s concerned panic over the new variant could potentially tank air travel during December.
“I believe it’s important that our officials put coronavirus into perspective,” Connolly said. “There’s no reason not to encourage people to enjoy time with their families.”
Contact Eli Wolfe at [email protected] or @EliWolfe4 on Twitter.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) — President Joe Biden’s new COVID-19 safety protocols for international travel officially went into effect Monday. That means anyone entering the United States must provide proof of a negative test within one day of their flight, regardless of vaccination status. The changes …
In March of 2021, a year into the pandemic, we decided to make plans to travel. Not only travel, but we went big and decided that international travel was the way to go. Why would we even think that this was a good idea? Did …
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/GTXVYF32QZHU3HFKQHXLNIZAYA.jpg?ssl=1 "Holiday travel tips and trends from the Quad Cities International Airport")
MOLINE, Ill. (KWQC) – As Thanksgiving approaches and people travel, TV6 spoke with the Quad Cities International Airport about the recent travel trends and tips for holiday travelers.
Holiday Travel
Ashleigh Davis, the PR and Marketing Manager for the airport, says there are some things to keep in mind if you’re planning to fly.
“A lot of people really do try to take the dishes with them or try to bring presents or whatever it is so presents have to stay unwrapped. For whatever reason, if TSA needed to look inside your gift you don’t want to undo all the wrapping that you just did,” Davis said. “Keep your liquids either in your checked bag or under the three-ounce rule in your carry-on luggage and then just be a little bit patient.”
This is in addition to the mask requirement for anyone traveling on airplanes, which will remain in effect through January 2022.
While there are no COVID test or vaccination requirements to fly at MLI, Davis says it’s important to check what’s required for your final destination.
MLI Airport Trends
Air travel overall is slowly making its return. While the travel numbers are below pre-pandemic levels, the airport is seeing similar pre-pandemic trends.
The airport saw just over 23,000 passengers in January of this year. In October, the airport recorded 51,623 travelers, the largest number since the start of the pandemic and a welcoming stat for the airline industry.
“Quite a dramatic change in…the attitudes and comfort with traveling. It’s great to see people back at the airport and have it be busy again. This is what helps us get more frequency of routes and new routes potentially,” Davis said.
As for November and December, Davis said, “We’ll see what the numbers shake out to be but it’s definitely important to have strong holiday seasons to make sure we end the year on a high note heading into the new year.”
Regarding the type of travel they’re seeing, Davis said leisure travel has rebounded quicker than business travel. Factors for that included people traveling to places that didn’t have many restrictions and a dip in flight costs.
“There was also a period where airfare was extremely low. So it’s very affordable. It’s hard to pass up prices that people haven’t seen in years,” she said, “So right now leisure is really carrying the market for everybody.”
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/WRAXNY6LEBFAHBE7ZINBPZLTFI.PNG)
Airport Renovations
The airport made some improvements during the past year including the addition of solar panels and they have more updates on the way.
“We’re also in the middle of updating our paging system. So it’s going to be a much more intuitive system. It will adjust to ambient noise and it will be zone-based so you can hear the information that’s most important to you when you’re traveling,” she said.
Davis also said a major project will kick off within the next 18 months. They’re hoping to announce the next stage of the multi-year project at the end of the year.
“You’re going to see the entire front half of our terminal get a major facelift. It looks like it’s 1985. That’s the last time it was updated. So you could see a pretty dramatic shift to modernize the airport and prepare it for the future of travel.”
Copyright 2021 KWQC. All rights reserved.