Niagara Falls, NY (WBEN) - Though the airports in the Buffalo area have been turned into ghost towns, they are still operating to serve vital transportation needs, but for how much longer will flights be coming in?
On Monday, Spirit Airlines announced that it is canceling all flights to and from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, that includes suspending service at the Niagara Falls International Airport.
The suspension lasts until at least May 4.
The Federal Aviation Administration earlier this month waived rules that mandate minimum flights to and from high-traffic airports, opening the door for other airlines to similarly suspend service.
“They will,” said Rick Seaney, Founder of FareCompare.com.
“What they’re not going to do is announce that ahead of time, they’re going to do that in a rolling way.”
The reasons for suspending service become obvious when looking at the numbers.
Air travel has dropped as much as 90% domestically. On March 29, 2019, 2.5 Million people passed through security checkpoints in US airports. On the same day this year, that number dropped to 180,000.
In the meantime, air fares have plummeted in an effort to get people to book flights even in these uncertain times.