Photo: RBRA

Airlines serving Roanoke are making changes to schedules in ways not usually seen. It comes in response to the changes in passenger numbers brought about by COVID-19. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones.

From airport Spokesperson Brad Boettcher:  Given business traffic is still grounded (for the most part) .. we are seeing a pure leisure demand travel pattern (heavy on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Monday, lighter on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday) .. Traffic volumes are so variable right now, yesterday (Wednesday) we carried 29% of a typical day this time of year in 2019, today (Thursday) we are carrying 60% of 2019’s traffic. As this type of pattern has held up the carriers are adjusting the schedules accordingly ..

3 of our 4 airlines have their October schedules set, the one exception is United and when I spoke to them last Friday, they said it would load this coming weekend. I have never seen schedules set so close to the actual day of operation.