PS International Airport traffic plummets during pandemic
People who live close to Palm Springs International Airport may be noticing how quiet things are right now.
Air traffic is down dramatically with the number of flights going from about sixty a day down to five or 10.
The numbers show that the total number of travellers to go through the airport in March of this year was 198,850.
That was down from 401,972 in 2019.
Now, Palm Springs City Manager, David Ready Ph.D., says the April numbers are projected to be down even more at about 90-95%.
"We anticipate that we'll have a $10 to 12 million loss this fiscal year," Ready says.
Some good news, the airport will be getting around $11 million from the federal CARES package.
The money will be used to maintain operations in hopes that airlines will begin to add flights when the economy begins to re-open and improve.
There have been no lay-offs.
The crisis comes at a difficult time for the airport.
Flights had been expanded in recent years and the airport was helping to drive the valley's economy which was doing very well this season.
"We've come a long way and so this is a significant negative impact for us. So, we've got to be ready to re-enter the economy as soon as were able," Ready says.
