Passenger traffic at Lansing’s airport is picking up this holiday week, but with the ongoing pandemic, it’s lower than a normal year.
Capital Region International Airport marketing manager Spencer Flynn says national figures are up this Thanksgiving week, but are only about half of the numbers compared to last year. Flynn says Lansing has seen a lot of college students heading home, but fewer families than usual for Thanksgiving. "There’s been a few families, smaller families, but we haven’t seen that big mom, dad and the three little ones coming through to travel for Thanksgiving," Flynn explains. "That’s the one group that we haven’t seen nearly as much this year.”
Flynn adds that work from home orders seem to have led some travelers to depart earlier in the week this year. "People don’t have to take Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday off, they can just work from wherever they’re at, so that’s one of the things we saw with that increase in traffic.”