COVID-19 sends passenger traffic at KCI into tailspin, plummeting 95.5% in April
The number of passengers arriving and departing through Kansas City International Airport’s gates plummeted nearly 96% in April when compared to the same month last year, according the Kansas City Aviation Department.
Nearly 42,200 passengers arrived and departed last month at KCI. That compares to 934,620 passengers for April 2019, which was the third-busiest April in airport history.
Passengers boarding flights also were down 95.5%, with a total of 21,036 people boarded. For April 2019, passenger boardings totaled 467,749 people.
“On behalf of everyone at the Kansas City Aviation Department, especially our front line workers, I’d like to thank everyone who chose to postpone their discretionary travel in April to help flatten the curve and slow the spread of the coronavirus,” Pat Klein, director of aviation, said in a release.
“As the stay-at-home orders are lifted and travelers return, we will continue to do everything possible to provide a clean and safe gateway to the world.”
Through April of this year, the total number of passengers in and out of KCI stands at 2,139,114, which is down 40.3%. Year-to-date passenger boardings were 1,058,996, down nearly 41%.
For the same period last year, total passengers in and out of KCI was 3,581,106, while passenger boardings were 1,788,234.
Meanwhile the air cargo tonnages for all carries, which includes both freight and mail transported by air, were down 13.4% in April, with a total of 15.7 million pounds handled. For the year, 664.5 million pounds of cargo have been handled, which is down 5.8%.
Air freight, which was down 10.5% from last year, accounted for most of the cargo handled at KCI in April. For the year, air freight is down 4.9% with a total of 63 million pounds handled.
Only 17,367 pounds of air mail was handled at KCI in April, a drop of 97.2% from April 2019. Air mail is down 31.5% for the year, with 1.6 million pounds handled through the first four months of this year.
The number of peak-day scheduled aircraft departures was 134, down from 171 in April 2019. Service was offered to 43 nonstop markets in April, down for 49 markets in April of last year.
There was an average of 24,747 arriving and departing scheduled seats at KCI each day in April, which compares to 40,167 in April 2019. The all-cargo carriers reported five daily departures for April, one less from the previous year.
