Jacksonville Aviation Authority statistics show the number of airline passengers arriving and leaving Jacksonville International Airport during March was down about 38% from February and down about 54% compared with March 2019.
JAA Director of External Affairs Michael Stewart said March passenger numbers reflect only a half-month of COVID-19 impacts. It was not until mid-March that the JIA experienced the decline in flights from the pandemic, he said.
April passenger numbers will be a full month of impact.
Before the pandemic, JIA was averaging 11,000 passengers a day on outbound flights. The third week of April averaged under 400 passengers a day on outbound flights, he said.
Airlines cancel flights the day before or the day of the flight so it is hard to prepare for the traffic at JIA. “When these flights only get 20 to 30 people, some flights are canceled the day of,” Stewart said. “On April 28 at 7;00 a.m. there were 76 scheduled flights arriving and departing and 34 were canceled.” On March 1 there were 186 flights scheduled, with only one or two cancellations.
Flights scheduled for May are down 73% from the number scheduled two or three months ago.
