GUILFORD COUNTY, NC (LPL/WGHP) — Airports are the place individuals spend a variety of time lately. It is the summer season journey season and plenty of flights are canceled on daily basis.
We checked the departure board at Piedmont Triad Worldwide Airport a short while in the past and noticed two flights delayed and one canceled.
We additionally sat down with Airport CEO Kevin Baker to see how the airline wrestle is affecting PTI and what his staff is doing to counter all of that.
“That is one thing we’ll be coping with for some time,” Baker stated.
The COVID-19 pandemic compelled airways to downsize.
“There’s actually nothing anybody can do about it as a result of this driver concern goes to take time for a brand new group of drivers to step into the sneakers of those that have retired,” Baker stated.
It is one of many causes individuals making an attempt to go away the town do not make it on time or face lengthy delays.
“We’ve got a variety of the regional carriers working right here, and if they cannot discover pilots, they cannot fly these planes,” Baker stated. “What that has led to right here is a few the routes that we had right here earlier than COVID haven’t come again but. Though they need to return, they will not as a result of the planes are on the bottom…they cannot discover pilots to fly them.”
Baker says the scenario at PTI is irritating.
“There are extra individuals flying than there are seats for them,” Baker stated.
Whereas airport leaders might not have management over airline complications, they’re working to make the passenger expertise as easy as doable. Gear upgrades are happening behind the scenes.
“This might be a full evaluation,” Baker stated.
These are important enhancements for an airport that’s the third largest in employment within the state with eight,600 individuals engaged on campus.
“This airport isn’t like another airport within the nation … as a result of we’ve got a set of property right here that aren’t replicated anyplace else,” Baker stated. “The airport has simply obtained a brand new aerial surveillance radar and a brand new management tower is getting nearer to being formally operational.”
