Syracuse Hancock International Airport is seeing hundreds of additional departures everyday due to spring break at city schools. Travelers are back to flying in record-setting numbers as COVID numbers fall, though masks are still required to fly.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Syracuse Hancock International Airport is experiencing a travel boom this week due to the Syracuse City School District’s spring break. City schools are on pause from Monday, April 11 to Friday, April 15th, and many families are taking advantage of the break by heading out of Central New York.
The airport has been seeing about 4,300 to 4,500 departures everyday since last Friday, an increase of of about 300-400 passengers per day according to Syracuse Regional Airport Association Executive Director Jason Terreri.
Terreri said that people are back to traveling at a record-setting pace as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wane.
“This year, we’re actually on track to be busier than we were in 2019,” Terreri said. “2019 was our busiest year on record in about three decades, so we’re back.”
He said SYR is already ahead of the 2019 travel pace through the first three months of the year by eleven percent.
Spring break is typically the third-busiest time of the year for travel out of SYR, behind only winter break and Thanksgiving.
Terreri also noted the accommodations that SYR has made in order to keep up with the travel spike, including adding new airlines and service to new destinations.
Parking was a primary concern for airport officials going into this week and they prepared by allocating nearly 500 additional parking spots for the public in a former employee lot. But, Terreri said that they have not needed them so far and were actually able to close the overflow lot.
The presence of spring break was felt across the airport on Monday, with the typical business travelers and college students swapped for youthful joy and kids galore.
Transportation Security Administraction officers including Dalton Zerkowski said that they enjoy the increased presence of children in the airport.
Zerkowski said that he tries to make travel as easy as possible for families with children, and typically lets kids keep their shoes on through security. He also tries to search strollers without breaking them down entirely.
For those like the Walts family, spring break is as simple as finding some warmer weather. They are headed off to Fort Lauderdale, FL to find some fun in the sun. Gordon Walts says that he and his wife have traveled sporadically throughout the pandemic, but this is the first flight for his third-grade daughter Josie.
As he motioned to the required mask on his face, Walts said “hopefully we won’t need these when we come back.”
They, like Terreri, are hopeful that COVID numbers will continue to fall and make airline travel easier and less restrictive; and this week’s spring break is certainly a hopeful sign.
Transcript
ASHLEY WENSKOSKI: As temperatures begin to rise in Central New York, so do travel numbers. But this year, it’s not just the weather that has locals itching to take a trip; it’s the fall of COVID numbers and the return of the traditional spring break for city schools.
Syracuse Regional Airport Association Executive Director Jason Terreri says the travel influx so far is record-setting.JASON TERRERI: This year, we’re actually right now on track to be busier than we were in 2019. 2019 was our busiest year for about three decades. So, we’re back. People are traveling, the airlines, we’ve added a bunch of new airlines, a bunch of new service, so it’s a really busy place.
WENSKOSKI: So busy, in fact, that Terreri says spring break is the third-most popular time to fly out of Syracuse.
Concerns about overflow parking led the airport to add about 5- hundred spots prior to this week, but Terreri says that they haven’t needed them so far.TERRERI: We have had no problem with parking this weekend, all of the lots are open and remained open…we actually ended up closing the overflow because we didn’t need it. Right now we’re fine, we haven’t had any issues.
WENSKOSKI: Families are taking advantage of the week off from school to find some sunshine.Third-grader Josie Walts and her father Gordon have big plans for their trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
GORDON AND JOSIE WALTS:Swim, eat food, park, hot tub..
WENSKOSKI:T-S-A Officer Dalton Zerkowski says the kids bring some joy to his job.
DALTON ZERKOWSKI: A ton of children…all cute and cuddly.
WENSKOSKI: And Executive Director Terrari says the airport has been seeing about 4300 to 4500 fliers every day this week…that’s an increase of about 3 to 4 hundred travelers per day.
At Syracuse Hancock International Airport, I’m Ashley Wenskoski, N- C-C News.