LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Clinton National Airport is seeing one of its busiest weeks since the pandemic started ahead of spring break.
Many people are traveling for the first time in a while.
"We didn't travel last year for spring break because of the pandemic, but this year we feel much more comfortable and we're going to see family so we'll be snow skiing," Julie Larue said.
Shane Carter is the spokesperson for the Clinton National Airport. He said this week, it is seeing about 52 percent of the passengers when compared to 2019.
"Last week we were at about 40 percent over where we were in a normal period. So, you can see how that has jumped over the last few days," he said.
This is good news to Carter. He said it shows people are becoming more comfortable with traveling as covid numbers decline and people get vaccinated.
"Our airport primarily serves leisure travelers and as people have been inside for months and months, we're seeing them want to travel again," Carter said.
Airlines are also adding new nonstop destinations from Little Rock, like Miami and St. Petersburg, FL. This is a good sign for the airport.
"We currently have 28 departing flights a day. Airlines are bumping that up to 37 flights next months and they don't just do that. They do it based on bookings if the business is there," Carter said.
Carter expects travel to continue to increase through the summer.
"The air service development service we work with expects we'll be at about 65 percent of our normal passengers by the fall," Carter said.