NORFOLK, Va. - "August was a very big month. It was the fourth-highest August in the airport’s history," Charles Braden said, the director of Market Development for Norfolk International Airport.
Norfolk International Airport saw 366,000 travelers in August.
"This August, we were up 128% over August 2020," Braden said.
Despite the spread of the Delta COVID-19 variant, more and more people are taking to the skies to travel.
"We’re traveling more than we have. This is our second trip in a week and we got two more planned," Dan Moser said, a traveler flying out of Norfolk International Airport.
Charles Braden with the Norfolk International airport says there’s a lot of pint up demand from consumers eager to fly.
"We’re on the way to Florida in a couple of weeks then after that to Iceland. We love traveling and glad things are finally starting to open up," Jeffrey Freed said, a traveler flying out of Norfolk International Airport.
Norfolk’s high volume of travelers reflects a larger trend the United States is seeing. According to Transportation Security Administration (TSA), more than a million passengers have flown in and out of U.S. airports every day since September 1st.
"We are seeing fall travel continue and it is robust," Braden said.
For Katherine Carey, a traveler visiting Norfolk, she says this is her first time flying this year and feels more comfortable flying during the pandemic.
"I haven’t been able to see my family much during the pandemic. Since we’re all vaccinated, we decided to take this weekend and have a cousin’s weekend. We’re planning on traveling a little bit more," Carey said.
Airport officials say this year’s volume of passengers looks similar to 2019, before the pandemic.
