Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport officials have long said that the more area residents use the airport, the more likely the airline will add nonstop destinations such as Dallas, Texas, and Denver, Colorado. I've done it. Seeing how much air travel has increased at Roanoke Airport this year, I asked Airport Executive Director Mike Stewart whether he thought consumers had responded to the call to fly locally.
“I think so,” he said. “Does anyone still drive to Charlotte or Greensboro?” [North Carolina airports] and dulles [International Airport near Washington]? absolutely. “
Only about 48% of commercial air travel business that occurs within a two-hour drive is receiving ROA, which is slightly higher than last year, Stewart said. The rest are moving to larger regional airports to get cheaper tickets and access to more flights, a decision Stewart said is understandable. He believes area residents are tired of driving to other airports and is telling the airlines as much, he said. He argued that people cutting back on use of other airports could be evidence that airlines need to expand in Roanoke.
Others are also reading…
For now, he said, as long as airlines can get Dallas-bound business in the region at airports like Charlotte and Dulles, it's unlikely they would deploy planes to Roanoke to take people to Dallas, for example. In addition, pilot shortages limit airline flexibility. Although new services are unlikely to be available under the current circumstances, the message from his desk remains the same. “Fly Roanoke”. Four airlines offer direct flights to his eight major cities.
U.S. and global commercial air travel is believed to have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Stewart said Roanoke is still about 5% below 2019 traveler levels, but has recovered faster than other airports in the region.
Let's look back here. In 2020, air travel from places like Roanoke dropped significantly as humanity hunkered down to avoid a pandemic virus spreading around the world. From January 2020 to October 2020, Roanoke received 121,000 international travelers. But 2021 was even better, with year-to-date passenger numbers at the airport reaching 241,000 by October 2022, twice as many as in 2020. In October 2023, the total number of passengers was 280,000, just 16,000 fewer than the 296,000 in October 2019.
2019 is considered a high-water mark for the industry and is a particularly strong year that not all analysts use to gauge pre-pandemic longevity. How about 2018? By October 2018, Roanoke Airport had 271,000 foreign passengers. This year's data is even better.
jeff sturgeon
(540) 981-3251
jeff.sturgeon@roanoke.com
