COLORADO SPRINGS — The number of travelers using Colorado Springs Airport continues to rebound from cutbacks during the height of the pandemic. “We are steadily seeing an increase in travel,” said Dana Schield with Colorado Springs Airport. It is part pandemic recovery, but also because of airport expansion and growth in the community.
“A really good indicator is most of our carriers have increased capacity and that can either mean larger aircraft or adding more flights to their schedule,” said Schield. The number of airplane seats available to passengers jumped by 65% in April. Airlines add service when there is demand. United, American, and Delta have all added flights to daily schedules.
Southwest initiated service in Colorado Springs back in March. The airline just announced it will add seasonal service to Houston and San Antonio for the holidays. “With these additional seasonal flights, they’re really just building on their initial success,” said Schield.
Passenger counts show numbers not just reaching, but surpassing pre pandemic levels. There is a preview of official numbers for May with totals from the TSA checkpoint. Schield said, “We don’t have our finalized May numbers, but the TSA checkpoint volumes are up 35% from 2019.” It is a comparison to numbers prior to 2020, the pandemic year when travel dropped dramatically.
