Coronavirus Impact on US and International Airport Traffic, By Advan Research

Has travel been affected by the coronavirus, and if so by how much and where?

The overall volume of passengers traveling by air affects many of disparate industries - not just airlines but travel sites and aggregators that sell tickets, hotels and car rental companies that rely on airports for a large volume of their business, credit card companies, restaurants and retailers. The list can go on.

To try and gauge the impact that a reduction in travel due to the coronavirus might be having on these sectors and more, Advan analyzed foot traffic in key US and international airports. First, within the US, Advan looked at the largest airports for international passengers: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, as well as Atlanta, which is a major airport hub.

Measuring the average daily visitors in each airport it becomes clear that the West Coast airports, and to a lesser extent, Chicago O'Hare, show a significant drop in traffic between January and February, compared to the previous 3 years. Los Angeles, in particular, saw a drop of almost 7% in traffic from January to February of this year, whereas in previous years the trend was more or less flat.

This is a clear indicator that air travel to and from Asia is starting to show identifiable weakness.