Columbia Regional Airport is seeing significant drops in traffic compared to 2019

The Columbia Regional Airport saw 95 percent fewer passengers last month compared to May 2019 as the COVID-19 pandemic suppressed travel.

The airport counted 2,225 passengers last month, up 1,180 from April but still far below the total from the previous May.

The University of Missouri is a source of much of the airport's traffic. However, the MU campus was closed for months and managers are limiting travel to save money as COVID-19 drags down revenue.

"No students are here, so there are very few people coming in and out," MU spokesman Christian Basi said. "Additionally because of the budget issues the university is having, one of the very first cost-cutting measures we were making was to stop any travel that was not absolutely critical."

"Typically we do have quite a few people traveling during the week for various reasons, all related to boosting the ability of the university to complete its missions, but now really no one is flying in or out," Basi said.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March, traffic at the airport dropped nearly 43 percent compared to the previous year, with only 12,388 passengers using the airport.

The airport only had 1,045 passengers in April, counting those boarding and exiting commercial flights at the airport. Traffic that month was down 92 percent from April 2019. That number is even more dramatic when considering April 2019 traffic was affected by a bump in the runway that stopped flights for a period.

The April 2020 passenger number was the lowest of the last 10 years, even with expanding flights and destinations.

Airport officials were not available for comment Wednesday morning.

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