A dizzying climb: Tulsa airport making inroads but still faces challenges

Mid-October was the best week for the Tulsa airport (TUL) since before the outbreak of COVID-19, with more than 17,000 people filing through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints, Tulsa Airports CEO Alexis Higgins said by phone. The past month’s per-week average had been 14,000.

“What we’ve noticed is that we’ve started seeing more people visiting friends and family out of town,” said Higgins, attributing part of the recent increase to schools’ fall break.

“Then, of course, our summer traffic is driven by vacationing travelers, people going to the beach, going outdoors. In fact, we’ve seen a big pickup to those and other places where they can be outside and enjoy the nice weather.”

The Tulsa news complements a recent U.S. Department of Defense study, which showed the chances of contracting coronavirus through the air aboard a crowded commercial airplane from an infected passenger wearing a mask is very low.

Conducted by the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM), the Commercial Aircraft Cabin Aerosol Dispersion Test revealed that 99.99% of particles released into the air from an infected person wearing a face covering were removed from an airplane cabin within six minutes of being released, according to the study, released this month. It takes roughly 90 minutes to clear the particles in the average home.

Costing about $1 million, the study was conducted aboard Boeing 767 and 777 jets during an eight-day period at Dulles International Airport in Virginia. The flight time was provided by United Airlines at no cost to the government, and Boeing supplied engineers to answer questions about the planes.

“It (the study) is nice because it’s an independent third-party,” Higgins said. “…Definitely, onboard the aircraft, it’s never been cleaner for people because everybody’s wearing masks, because airlines are sanitizing the aircraft. The usual filtration systems that are onboard the aircraft have always been in place.

“From an airport perspective, locally we have the mask ordinance in place. We ask that anyone who enters the building wear a mask and the airlines are enforcing that, as well, from the ticket counter and check-in to the time you get off the airplane and pick up your bag.”

In addition, signs mandating face coverings are at every one of TUL’s more than three dozen entrances, she said. Safety announcements are made over the public address system, and graphics illustrating social distancing measures grace the airport’s floor.

“We’re trying to hit everybody with that message using every sense we can,” Higgins said.

Positive developments notwithstanding, the airline industry remains seriously wounded by COVID-19.

A total of 6.1 million passengers passed through U.S. checkpoints the week of Oct. 12 through Oct. 18, representing the largest volume since the start of the pandemic, according to the TSA. But the million-plus passengers screened Oct. 18 compares with 2.6 million on the same day in 2019, or about 60% fewer, the TSA said.

Locally, TUL is averaging 28 daily departures, compared with 51 pre-COVID, Higgins said. In September, 54,386 revenue passengers boarded planes at TUL, down 55% over the same month a year ago.

TUL also has fewer nonstop flights (16 total) than it did before the coronavirus, though a Phoenix (PHX) nonstop, via Southwest Airlines, is expected to return in November and a Los Angeles (LAX) flight, via American, is scheduled to be back in December, Higgins said.

“We definitely support any type of assistance that can be provided for the industry,” she said. “The airlines are essential to our operation. These are just unfathomable times. Nobody could have predicted the situation that we face.

“Earlier this year, the thought was, ‘Oh, by the end of the summer, we will be OK.’ Now, we’re starting to see that this is going to be a long-term recovery.”

Congress awarded the airlines $50 billion in cash and loans in March on the condition they suspend layoffs at least through October. Those layoffs could grow exponentially as airlines lobby Congress and the White House for another $25 billion to pay workers for the next six months.

Those personnel cuts have been keenly felt at Tech Ops-Tulsa, American Airlines’ largest maintenance base. Between Tech Ops-Tulsa and Tulsa International Airport, about 180 employees were furloughed in Tulsa, an American spokesperson said this month. An additional 325 local employees are leaving via an early-out program, a union spokesman said.

“Who would have thought the vacationing traveler would really be the target for airlines?” Higgins said. “For so long, it’s been that business traveler who is the high-yield customer. It’s pretty exciting from a consumer perspective. But at the same time, we’re ready to see that business traveler back in the airport.

“We’re doing what we need to do today to stay afloat, but in the long term, we need our entire customer base to come back. We know that they will once everyone feels confident in their ability to travel and maintain their safety and personal health.”

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