March 3, 2020
Categories:
Corporate & Supply Chain
Valantis Aristides
7 minute read

Coronavirus impact on US and international airport traffic

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,
we analyzed foot traffic in key US and international airports.


First, within the US, we looked at the largest airports for international passengers: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and
San Franscisco, as well as Atlanta, which is a major airport hub.


Measuring the average daily visitors in each airport we can see 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.


Advan: pct change in airport average daily traffic from January to February 2017 - 2020


While the month over month change is material, on a day-to-day basis we do not observe any pronounced changes. The
chart below shows year-to-date traffic on a daily basis. The effects are mild compared, for example, to the weather
delays in Boston and Chicago on Saturday, January 11.


Advan: daily traffic in select US airports, January - February 2020


The picture in international airports, however, is materially different. Hong Kong, Seoul and Vancouver have large and
statistically significant drops from prior years,
with Hong Kong and Seoul the most affected.


Advan: pct change in airport average daily traffic from January to February 2018 - 2020


This drop in foot traffic for international airports is also visible in the daily traffic trends:


Advan: daily traffic in select International airports, January - February 2020


More in depth analysis traffic across all US airports as well as the major US airlines is already available in Advan's
graphical interface, Excel API
and data feeds. Daily historical airport traffic on any international airport, or any international location for that
matter, can be generated on the fly using REveal, Advan's online platform.


For more insights into how this trend is affecting airport retailers, see this article from today's Wall Street Journal: Airport shops suffer crisis as Coronavirus upends travel, WSJ, March 3, 2020

Valantis Aristides

Valantis has been focused on product management across B2B and B2C SaaS and data analytics, specializing in translating complex data into clear, actionable insights that inform business and investment decisions, product innovation, and customer engagement. His experience includes analyzing mobility trends, credit card transactions, and alternative data to uncover patterns that shape strategy and highlight market opportunities.