PHOENIX — The latest surge of Covid-19 and the Omicron variant slowed Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport’s recovery from the pandemic again in January.
According to a Feb. 28 report from the Phoenix Aviation Department, a total of 3,007,883 passengers passed through the terminals of the area’s primary airport in January. While January’s total passenger numbers were up 78.6% from the same month in 2021, they were down 21.6% from the same month in 2020 – before the pandemic started.
Compared to 2019, January’s numbers were down 18.6%.
The commercial airline industry has been aiming to get back to and above pre-pandemic passenger levels since the Covid-19 hit the industry hard in March of 2020. November 2021 was the first month Sky Harbor saw passenger levels above 2019 levels.
But in December and January, the Omicron variant of Covid-19 spread quickly around the country, keeping a lot of people from flying, but also leading to scores of flights being canceled, which interrupt many travel plans.
Read more of this story from the Phoenix Business Journal.
