NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The last two months have looked different at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport. There have been fewer passengers, there are now fewer employees, and starting Wednesday there will be fewer flights.
Executive Director Michael Giardino said the airport is losing close to $400,000 a month, due to the impacts from COVID-19. The airport was also forced to lay off 36 employees, which includes a lot of part-time employees.
“We had a great year going, we were running three-quarters of a million-dollar budget surplus, we had good passenger loads in January, February and the beginning of March, and then we were down to at one point just a handful of passengers on a day in April,” Giardino said.
This comes as Delta will temporarily suspend flights to and from Newport News starting Wednesday. The CARES Act lets an airline to temporarily consolidate service in cases where multiple airports serve the same point.
Delta also flies in and out of Norfolk International Airport. Giardino said the U.S. Department of Transportation decided to lump Newport News under Norfolk, and Delta chose to consolidate at Norfolk.
“We looked at 9/11, the recession from 2008 and 2009, and this was a big freefall from those events,” Giardino said. “I would say this is probably the most catastrophic event that has happened but self-imposed.”
Giardino said business is down 95%. While the airport is losing money, it did get more than $4 million from the CARES Act.
“We're being responsible with that money,” Giardino said. “We will sustain ourselves through this crisis.”
Norfolk International Airport reported a 94.2% decrease in passenger activity for the month of April 2020 with 18,687 passengers. This figure compares to an April 2019 passenger count of 324,638.
From January to April 2020, the total passenger count decreased by 36.7% representing 723,322 passengers versus 1,143,103 passengers during the same period in 2019.
However, Giardino is remaining optimistic.
“We're still losing money and we will continue to lose money, but my job is to make sure we're running an organization that's ready to come out the other end,” Giardino said.
American Airlines has three flights to Charlotte from Newport News every day, and one to Philadelphia. However, the airline is suspending the Philadelphia flight for a month in June.
Giardino said Monday was a great day. That's because the airport had more passengers than it's seen in two months.
The airport is taking extra measures and looking into touchless technology. Giardino said they will also put decals on the floor to remind people to stay a good distance from each other.