Rochester, New York With the kids out of school for February break, it’s the perfect time for families to take a vacation.
It’s also a good time for airport officials who are seeing a spike in post-Covid travel. News10NBC went to Rochester Airport to find out where people are going and how much we’re seeing in travel.
There’s no doubt many families are excited to get away for a week and enjoy a nice vacation, and airport assistant manager Steve Bars says it’s the fanciest ride they’ve seen since Covid. When you enter the airport, you can almost feel the difference with more people entering and exiting.
“We’re heading to Charleston today just to get some warm weather, soak up some of our country’s history, and go down south,” said Shayne Watterson.
In January they saw a 43 per cent increase in travel, Bars says, making it the best January in five years, and he says things are only getting better.
“Right now, we’re up about 10 percent compared to last year,” said Barz. “The past four days Going back to last Thursday, the average number of passengers departing was 4,800 per day. This weekend, we had 5,000 passengers departing in one day, which is exceptional for us.”
He says they had to make adjustments because of the increase.
“It’s nice to see people coming back,” said Barz. “All of our surface slots here on the airport campus are full, so we actually had to use our red overflow apron, which is across the street on Brooks Ave, so we see traffic come back and it’s great.”
And for those traveling this week for the February break, many are excited to get away. Others say they are more excited about the great perks their destination has to offer.
“We’re going to this amazing hotel that serves milk and cookies before bed every night, so I’m really excited about that,” said Anna Waterson, who travels to Charleston.
Some hope that warm weather will return to Rochester and maybe some friends.
“We’ll visit family and see the ocean and maybe see some manatees and do some sightseeing,” said Sarah Donovan, who is traveling to Florida. “And crocodiles! Maybe I’ll smuggle home a baby crocodile.”
Bars says they expect these travel numbers to remain flat even after this week.
