ST. LOUIS (KMOX/AP) -Passenger traffic at St. Louis Lambert International Airport is down 90% this week, compared to the same week last year.
Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge says that will lead to flight reductions in the "coming days and weeks" because they expect more and more passengers to cancel flights.
Hamm-Niebruegge says it could take a while for business travel to come back as companies limit spending, but believes the airlines will continue to offer "dramatic" fairs that others will take advantage of.
"I think people that have been cooped up will want to get away for a weekend and the leisure travel will come back very, very strong when we get through this crisis and that's going to be helpful," Hamm-Niebruegge says.
Though passenger traffic is down significantly, cargo traffic over the same period is actually up 20%.
White House officials have repeatedly declined to rule out the possibility of halting domestic airline travel while saying no such shutdown was imminent. President Donald Trump said Monday he was not considering new travel restrictions.
An official of one major U.S. airline, who asked that they and their airline not be identified, ticked off more than a dozen flights that departed on Tuesday morning with fewer than 10 passengers on board. In a few cases, pilots and flight attendants outnumbered passengers.
The Transportation Security Administration said it screened 331,000 people at airport checkpoints on Monday, an 86% decline from the corresponding Monday a year ago, more than 2.4 million people poured through checkpoints.
Major airlines are drafting plans in case they must shut down domestic flights because of a lack of air traffic controllers or airport screeners.
The FAA, which provides air traffic control across the country, declined to comment on whether the agency was considering ordering a shutdown.
“We don’t comment on speculation,” said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. “The FAA is focused on the health and safety of its workforce while continuing to provide a safe air transportation system.”