Hilton Head, Savannah airports report fewer passengers, warnings for New Yorkers
This time last year, about 4,500 people were departing each day from the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport.
Right now, the airport is averaging around 200 daily departures, marketing director Lori Lynah said in a Wednesday conference call with the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce.
“Delta actually had a flight yesterday that had one passenger on it, which is hard to believe,” she said.
Lynah said the airport is seeing about 30 flight cancellations a day, and has “very low” occupancy at all of its hotels, which are still open. Departures are down by about 86 percent, she said.
On Monday, Chatham County Chairman Al Scott issued a declaration to mandate coronavirus screening for arrivals at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, as well as arrivals from the county’s Amtrak and Greyhound stations.
The screenings will be conducted through the Chatham Emergency Management Agency, which is “waiting on equipment” to begin, Lynah said Wednesday.
Both the Savannah airport and the Hilton Head Island Airport are reporting the same trends as airlines across the nation: On Tuesday, the Transportation Security Administration screened just 146,348 travelers nationwide, compared to 2,026,256 on March 31, 2019.
It’s the lowest number of passengers the TSA has seen in the past 10 years, Lynah said.
Hilton Head Airport director Jon Rembold said Wednesday that things are “about the same,” just on a smaller scale at the island airport.
Both American and Delta airlines have dropped one of their daily flights to the island, and United Airlines’ daily flight to Washington Dulles Airport in Virginia was canceled Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, he said.
The airport’s weekly flight to New York was canceled last week, and “seems to be for this week as well,” Rembold said.
While Rembold said the airport did not have any direct flights to or from “hotspot areas” for coronavirus, they had seen a “couple” of New York and New Jersey arrivals on chartered flights with “one or two people.”
The Hilton Head Airport isn’t screening passengers’ temperature upon arrival, a move that many major airports across the country are taking. The Myrtle Beach Airport began voluntary screenings for arrivals last week.
However, Rembold said, his airport has posted several signs from DHEC regarding S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster’s executive order for “hotspot” arrivals to self-quarantine for 14 days.
Those hotspots include New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, the city of New Orleans and “any other area” deemed high-risk, per the executive order.
This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 3:02 PM.