Bellingham airport continues to slowly rebound, with flights increasing this fall
As the Bellingham International Airport continues to deal with the impact of COVID-19 and a restricted border, flights are slowly starting to increase again for the fall season.
Alaska Airlines, which was only offering one flight a day to Seattle during the pandemic shutdown, has increased its flights to Seattle to twice a day and is possibly increasing it to four times a day in November, said Sunil Harman, director of aviation for the Port of Bellingham. Prior to the pandemic, Alaska was offering around five flights a day to Seattle.
Allegiant Airlines, which stopped all flights out of Bellingham for much of last spring before resuming some in June, is offering a varying schedule in October with flights to Las Vegas, Phoenix and Palm Springs. Fights to Oakland are expected to get going again in November, while there are plans for flights to Los Angeles during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, Harman said.
Both Alaska’s and Allegiant’s websites indicate more flight options out of Bellingham, particularly around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
Air travel has taken a huge hit since the pandemic took hold in the U.S. the past seven months. Bellingham was especially hit hard because of the ban on nonessential travel between the U.S. and Canada border, starting in March. The restriction has been extended each month and is now in place until at least Oct. 21, although some border experts believe it’ll remain in place into early 2021.
Allegiant Airlines in particular had a very strong Canadian customer base in Bellingham prior to COVID-19, citing the border restrictions as one factor in canceling flights last spring.
With just local residents, Bellingham airport traffic has slowly recovered each month. In April just 502 people flew out of the Bellingham airport; in April 2019 that total was 28,146, according to data gathered by the Port of Bellingham. By August the number of passengers was up to 7,297.
Harman anticipates Bellingham’s monthly airport traffic to increase to about 9,000 in the November and December based on the increased flight availability and holiday travel.
Last week Washington Gov. Jay Inslee offered additional guidance for airports, particularly with face coverings. Harman said the Bellingham airport has had these rules in place since mid-May, when it mandated face coverings for anyone accessing the commercial terminal.
“The Port continues to monitor the public health guidance from the state and CDC and is committed to meeting and exceeding all requirements necessary to keep employees and customers as safe as possible,” Harman said in an email.
This story was originally published September 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
