When the Grab platform was introduced for ordering food at the airport, it was seen as a convenience tool for travelers that wanted to pick up their meals quickly while on the way to their gates and employees with limited break time to purchase food. In the COVID-19 world, Grab is a way to promote physical distancing and safety, by allowing users to avoid queuing in crowded lines and limiting high touch interactions for restaurant staff.
PHL generates $16.8 billion in spending annually and supports more than 106,000 full-time jobs for the 11-county Philadelphia metropolitan statistical area. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of workers have been furloughed. Many of these workers are airline employees, airport contractors, and concessions employees.
As the COVID-19 health crisis continues to impact the aviation industry, there is no timetable for when airline operations may approach pre-pandemic levels. At Philadelphia International Airport, flight ops are down about 90 percent from this time a year ago.
Still, people are flying. On May 11, TSA reported it screened 215,645 passengers at airports across the country – its highest since March 25. American Airlines, the largest carrier at PHL, reports that its local passenger numbers are up slightly since April while its schedule has been reduced by 80 percent versus May 2019.
When asked how they prepare for a trip, most travelers will answer with: taking care of the airfare, travel accommodations and rental car; making sure that everyone has their passport/ID; and getting to the airport on time, among other things.
Does anyone think about the air control towers of the airports they fly out of and into?
Beginning May 22, access to Philadelphia International Airport’s facilities will be limited to those with airport business, including badged employees, ticketed passengers and people who are transporting those with airport business.
Airports have two primary roles at this time: to be open for flights that transport essential personnel and to accommodate cargo flights transporting critical goods. “Since the travel restrictions went into place, our passenger volume is down about 80-90 percent over last year, but our cargo operations have increased 12.9 percent for the year,” said Stephanie Wear, PHL’s Director of Air Service Development and Cargo Services.
For several years, PHL has collaborated with The Enterprise Center and the United States Department of Transportation Women & Girls Transportation Initiative (WITI) to host an inspiring event for high school and female college students. WITI’s mission is to increase the participation of women in the transportation industry and prepare young women to become future leaders by creating ladders of opportunity, small business economic competitiveness through careers, internships, strategic partnerships and education.
Passengers may not realize this, but there are more than 800 employees in Philadelphia International Airport who work for the City of Philadelphia Division of Aviation, which owns and operates both PHL and Northeast Philadelphia Airport. About 200 of these employees work in offices for Human Resources, Finance, Safety, Capital Development, Planning, Communications, Marketing, Properties, and Legal. Most non-operations employees are currently working from home, due to COVID-19 physical distancing requirements.
When it is safe to travel, the airport experience will be very different for passengers. Safety shields, facial coverings and masks, and decals indicating where to queue—these are just some of the things that are part of the new normal in the world of aviation.
