MA, New England Airports See 70% Decline Ahead Of Thanksgving

MASSACHUSETTS —Just 147,935 travelers departed from the six major airports in New England between Friday and Wednesday, down more than 70 percent from the nearly 500,000 travelers during the same time period ahead of Thanksgiving last year.

The Transportation Security Administration released the preliminary traveler counts for Logan International Airport in Boston, Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, Burlington International Airport in Vermont, Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire, T. F. Green Airport in Rhode Island, and Portland International Jetport in Maine.

The number follows several months when volume has been down about 80 percent at Logan Airport because of the coronavirus pandemic. Jennifer Mehigan, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, told the Boston Globe the airport routinely saw between 120,000 and 140,000 arriving and departing travelers per day before the pandemic started.

Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday this year, the busiest day was Nov. 21, when 27,761 people traveled from the six airports. That was down from the busiest day ahead of Thanksgiving 2019, when 93,000 people traveled from the airports.

The decline in Thanksgiving travelers was steeper in New England than in other parts of the country, where the decline in travelers was 60 percent. About 5.9 million people flew in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, down from 14.4 million in 2019, TSA said.

Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).