WARWICK – The skies are looking sunnier above Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport, with travel activity rebounding during the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to the R.I. Airport Corp.’s annual report.
The 2.9 million passengers passing through the airport in fiscal 2022 is more than doubled the 1.4 million in fiscal 2021, according to the report published Thursday. While still well below pre-pandemic figures – there were nearly 4.1 million passengers traveling to or from Green in fiscal 2019 – the latest data suggests a “steady recovery,” the report stated.
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Moreover, flights are up 72% year-over-year (from 18,000 to 31,000) thanks to eight new routes added, including options from Breeze Airways and Frontier Airlines. Breeze plans to continue adding routes and open a permanent base out of Green in 2023. Frontier, meanwhile, is ending its service out of Green in April 2023, eliminating year-round and seasonal routes to Denver, Atlanta and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., as well as several in Florida.
RIAC declined to comment on Frontier’s decision but expects to exceed pre-pandemic passenger figures for the airport “in the near future,” John Goodman, a spokesman for RIAC, said previously.
Cargo shipments, which did not fall as sharply during the pandemic, grew 5% year-over-year, with 36 million pounds of cargo shipped in fiscal 2022, according to RIAC’s report.
Fiscal 2022 also marked the highest amount of cargo shipped in or out of the airport in the last four years, according to RIAC.
Data for flights prior to fiscal 2021 was not immediately available.
The report also highlighted recent capital investments at the airport as part of its 10-year, $98 million master plan. Among those finished in fiscal 2022: the $27.6 million upgrade of runway 16-34 and a $10 million restroom renovation.
An agency master plan, spanning the six airports under RIAC’s control, calls for up to $850 million in investments in cargo facilities and air service over the next 20 years, according to the report.
Iftikhar Ahmad, president and CEO of RIAC, said in a statement in the report that these efforts as a whole have “paid significant dividends” in economic opportunities for the state. Ahmad was not immediately available for additional comment on Friday.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Lavin@PBN.com.
