Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport officials are expecting a jolt in traffic during the holiday season this year compared to 2018, following a trend of consecutive growth over the past few years as airlines upgrade to larger planes with more seats.
BTR spokesman Jim Caldwell says he expects at least a 5% increase in ridership during peak Thanksgiving travel this year compared to last. From last Friday through Sunday this week, he forecasts around 20,000 passengers arriving to and departing from the airport.
“Our seating capacity is up about that percentage, and demand should hold strong,” Caldwell says. “We were up 6% last year, so it should be comparable.”
The ballpark projection comes as airlines continue to “upgauge” their aircraft to larger jets. American Airlines, which has seen the largest growth in seating capacity, is BTR’s top airline in terms of enplanements, by a small margin. United has also begun adding more seating capacity to its local flights, as well as more flights in and out of BTR in general, with Delta adding more seating in the fourth quarter of this year.
It’s resulted in less 50-seater jets and more aircraft in the 65- to 76-seat range that feature multi-class seating, including first-class and coach.
Still, because the regional airport caters largely to business travelers, who comprise roughly 65% of its market, ridership tends to fall during the holiday months as demand for business travel softens. Consequently, Caldwell says some airlines had previously pulled back more flights than was warranted during the holiday season and have since added back flights to and from Baton Rouge.
“We were trying to convey to them that we had more of a leisure market than was believed,” Caldwell says. “We’ve been able to communicate to them to not only keep their regular capacity in BTR, but in some cases even grow it.”
Caldwell says Thanksgiving travelers can visit www.tsa.gov to determine what food items they can bring on the plane.
