Spokesperson: Tri-Cities Airport not yet impacted by American Airlines furloughs

Officials with the Tri-Cities Airport say their flights have not been impacted by massive furloughs levied by American Airlines.

Several national media outlets reported earlier this week that because of Congress’s failure to extend the federal CARES Act Payroll Support Program for the airline industry, airlines like American have either started to furloughed or lay off as many as 32,000 employees. Congress remains in talks to try and continue relief for the battered travel industry.

Airport spokesperson Kristi Haulsee told Supertalk they have not yet felt that furlough impact, but since the pandemic began, they are averaging only eight outbound flights a day, compared to 12 pre-pandemic. She also told us passenger traffic has slowly increased, but says they were still down some 60% of passenger for the first two weeks of September compared to 2019 numbers.

Photo Courtesy: Tri-Cities Airport Logo