T.F. Green Airport has become a ghost town during the coronavirus crisis, and the way the federal stimulus funding is being doled out could make its recovery much more difficult, according to the chief of the R.I. Airport Corp.
Daily passenger traffic at Green failed to hit 200 people in early May, compared with 5,500 travelers streaming through the state’s largest airport each day in April 2019, according to data from the R.I. Airport Corp.
Stay-at-home orders, forced quarantine for out-of-state arrivals and anxiety about air travel have caused airlines to slash service to the point that only 21 planes arrived or departed from Green on May 4, compared with 119 on the same day last year.
Airports around the country are facing similarly dramatic drops in passenger traffic – a 95% decrease, according to daily checkpoint information from the federal Transportation Security Administration. But T.F. Green’s struggle to climb out of what R.I. Airport Corp. CEO and President Iftikhar Ahmad predicts will be a three- to four-year recovery could be more difficult due to the rules surrounding federal airline bailout money.
The $58 billion included for airlines under the $2 trillion federal stimulus package requires recipients to maintain a minimum level of service nationwide – for now, at least through Sept. 30, although additional funding could come with an extension of the minimum-service rule.
‘The airport is an economic engine for the state.’
SEN. JACK REED, D-R.I.
Guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Transportation allow airlines to consolidate flights within certain geographic areas, including a Greater Boston designation that lumps in Green with Boston’s Logan International Airport.
While none of the airlines operating out of Green have permanently cut service yet, United Airlines Inc., Frontier Airlines and JetBlue Airways have suspended some flights. The guidelines offer no incentive for them to resume full-service operations when the economy reopens. Ahmad co-signed a letter with Gov. Gina M. Raimondo and members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation in April asking the U.S. DOT to amend its minimum-service rule. He said prolonged service cuts would be devastating.
“When you have only 200 people, and not a lot of service, it doesn’t matter as much,” Ahmad said. “Once [stay-at-home orders] are lifted, the weakest link will be services.”
Assuming an uptick in travel by late summer and fall, lack of flights out of Green could cripple its own recovery, and with it, the state economy.
The airport serves the state’s tourism industry, as well as a business and events community, said Jim McCarville, executive director of the R.I. Convention Center Authority.
Having canceled or postponed many major events scheduled for the R.I. Convention Center and the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, the ability to revive revenue streams depends upon future bookings, which in turn require easy access for out-of-state guests, McCarville said.
“The airport is an economic engine for the state,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., in an emailed statement. “It connects people and brings jobs and business to Rhode Island.”
The devastating blow dealt by COVID-19 has also forced the R.I. Airport Corp. to amend some of its long-term plans, pushing back the dates on a major terminal renovation, Ahmad said.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Lavin@PBN.com.
