Though health officials are urging people to stay home for the holidays, Pittsburgh International Airport is reporting an uptick in travel as Thanksgiving approaches.

Thanksgiving week tends to be one of the busiest travel weeks of the year, said Bob Kerlik, a spokesman for Pittsburgh International Airport.

In a normal year, Kerlik said, the airport would see about 180 or 190 daily departures in the days around Thanksgiving. This year, that number is about 105. There would typically be approximately 18,000 departing passengers per day during Thanksgiving week. This year, the number is 6,000 to 7,000.

“It’s less than half of what we’d normally see during this time,” Kerlik said.

But those numbers are still high when compared to what the airport saw earlier in the pandemic.

In March and April, the airport was seeing 500 passengers departing per day.

“We saw a slow rebound over the summer, and we saw that peak a little bit around August when we were having around 7,000 or so a day. After school started, we saw a little bit of a dip again. And now during Thanksgiving, we’re seeing an uptick again,” Kerlik said, adding that the busiest days during this Thanksgiving travel peak likely will be Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

Unlike previous pre-Thanksgiving weekdays at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Westmoreland County, travelers won’t wait in long lines once they arrive at the terminal, according to airport officials.

Incoming and outgoing Spirit Airline flights are not as jam-packed this year, likely because of covid-19 travel concerns, according to authority officials.

“I’d say (traffic) has been just like on a normal day this year,” said Dwayne Pickels, grants director at the Unity airport. “Our parking lots are certainly not as filled as they usually were in past years during the Thanksgiving holidays.”

Spirit this week has flights to and from Florida destinations of Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando and Tampa.

Last week, state Secretary of Health Rachel Levine urged travelers flying to Pennsylvania to take extra precautions. Both Arnold Palmer airport and Spirit require protective masks be worn at all times.

Pickels estimated that Spirit’s daily flights to and from Orlando were well below full capacity, according to airline flight figures for Tuesday. The 10 p.m. Tuesday arrival from Orlando anticipated 107 passengers versus 83 departing at 6:40 a.m. The Airbus A320 used on those flights carry 184 passengers.

On Thanksgiving morning, that same scheduled flight is expected to have 114 passengers departing for Orlando versus 37 arriving in Unity at 10 p.m., Pickels reported.

Another drop-off in travel is anticipated at Pittsburgh International after Thanksgiving, followed by a new spike around Christmas, Kerlik said.

In a recent survey, Vacasa, an international vacation rental management company based in Portland, reported that Americans will indeed travel during the holidays this year. Forty-three percent of American consumers will travel four to six hours to get to their holiday destinations — though three-quarters of them plan to travel by car, according to Vacasa.

Kerlik noted that “safety and security are always the top priority at the airport” and that “since the pandemic began, we’ve incorporated public health as a part of that. We’re continuing to look at everything through the lens of public health.”

That is detailed in the PIT Safe Travels Program, which outlines the airport’s covid-19 protocols.

Masking and social distancing are enforced at the airport, Kerlik said, and enhanced cleaning and disinfecting measures are in effect. There are more hand-sanitizing stations throughout the airport, socially distanced seating arrangements at the gates, and protective plexiglass barriers at high traffic areas such as security checkpoints, concession areas and ticketing counters.

Pittsburgh International also is the first airport in the country to roll out autonomous floor scrubbing robots with UV attachments. Thanks to a partnership with Carnegie Robotics, the airport has four robots on the cleaning crew, Kerlik said.

Kerlik said there is an emphasis on touchless transactions, both with concession vendors and TSA agents.

While the airport is dedicated to adhering to covid-19 protocols, Kerlik urged passengers to do their part to make travel as safe as possible. He said passengers should follow guidance from local and state health departments and the CDC.

“We know people have to travel for a number of reasons. We are going to do everything in our power to make sure our passengers are as safe as possible.”

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