The number of passengers at Reagan National and Dulles airports continued to rise in May, but it remains just a fraction of the number of flyers a year ago, and the most recent data may not capture a recent reversal in passengers reported by airlines nationwide.
, compared to a year ago. In May 2019, Reagan National and Dulles saw a combined 4.47 million passengers, or an average of 149,000 a day. This May, the monthly total was 320,000, or an average of less than 11,000 a day.
Airlines report their data to the Airports Authority on a delay of two months; May totals are the most recent available.
at U.S. airports steadily rose throughout June, and reached the highest level since mid-April on the July 4 weekend. On July 2, TSA screened almost 765,000 passengers nationwide, up from just 87,000 on April 14.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic brought air travel to a near standstill, TSA typically screened about 2.5 million passengers a day.
Businesses at the airports are slowly reopening.
The Airports Authority reports there are 28 retail and food service concessions open at , out of a total of 86. , 27 out of 99 concessions are now open.
Earlier this month, the Airports Authority agreed to lower concessions operators鈥� rents by between 5% and 15% for the remainder of the year, and to waive fees it usually collects as a share of concessions operators鈥� gross sales for the rest of the year as well.
The slowdown has benefited the Airports Authority鈥檚 ongoing construction work at Reagan National, increasing the work schedules for construction of a new terminal and security checkpoints.
