GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – As more than 53.4 million Americans are expected to travel this Thanksgiving holiday, air travel is seeing a dramatic return – up 80% over last year.
With that huge return to air travel, local airports like Green Bay Austin Straubel International are preparing to see a lot of people coming through their terminals.
“We’re expecting it to be a pretty busy travel season beginning this week, and all the way through Christmas,” said Airport Director Marty Piette. “We’re already back to near pre-pandemic passenger levels, international borders are now open to international travelers that are fully vaccinated, and there’s still a lot of pent up demand. So I think it’s going to be really busy season. We might even get pretty close if not exceed our 2019 numbers.”
But even as restrictions begin to lift, airports and airline are still taking precautions that were first introduced in 2020 to improve health and safety protocols.
“A lot of the messaging that we put out is about protocols that we put into place from a COVID and pandemic standpoint. The airport is clean and sterilized, the aircraft are clean and sterilized, and we’re following all of the proper protocols,” Piette told WTAQ News.
Masks are still required inside of airport facilities and on commercial flights per federal rules.
“We’re excited to have the passengers come back. We’re ready for them when they’re ready,” Piette said. “It’s really important to have the passengers back. Our passengers are very important to us, they’re very important to the airlines. So to see them coming back, we’re really excited about it.”
AAA says this year’s travel forecast marks the highest single-year increase in Thanksgiving travelers since 2005. You can check out tips from the AAA Thanksgiving Forecast right here.
