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Austin-Bergstrom International Airport saw more than one million monthly passengers in May, charting its pandemic rebound. (Claire Partain/Austonia)
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is recouping its passenger volume after months of depressed demand due to the pandemic.
More than 1.1 million passengers flew through the airport in May, marking the first time monthly traffic has exceeded one million since February 2020, according to ABIA.
(Austin-Bergstrom International Airport)
Although passenger traffic was up nearly 746% in May 2021 compared to May 2020, it remains short of the traffic volume recorded in May 2019, indicating that air travel demand has not yet fully recovered.
Industry experts and ABIA officials have said that leisure travel is approaching pre-pandemic levels as a result of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and the ongoing reopening. But business and international travel are likely to recover more slowly as businesses evolve their remote-work policies and foreign governments loosen their travel restrictions and quarantine requirements.
The rapid spread of the Delta variant may also impact international air travel, with some countries, such as Portugal and Israel, reimposing or extending travel restrictions in an effort to mitigate its reach.
Despite these pandemic-related concerns, the future of ABIA looks bright. Airport officials announced a new expansion program last week that is intended to meet rising demand. The expansion will include building a midfield concourse—with at least 10 new gates and two new taxiways—that is connected to the Barbara Jordan Terminal via an underground tunnel.
Since opening in 1999, ABIA has tripled its passenger numbers. Between 2011 and 2019 it was the third fastest-growing airport in the country. Although the pandemic had a catastrophic impact on airports around the country, with ABIA traffic plummeting 95% last April, the latest traffic report indicates a rebound.
ABIA expects that demand this summer will match or surpass that of summer 2019, according to a press release. The airport set its current record for passenger travel in July 2019.
"The long-term plan for (ABIA) is a win for all customers and stakeholders and will ensure the airport is able to keep pace with rising demand for many years to come," CEO Jacqueline Yaft wrote in a memo sent to City Council on Tuesday.
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Elon Musk joined Tesla's second quarter earnings call from the Giga Texas site in Southeast Travis County on Monday. (Bob Daemmrich)
The electric carmaker reported more than $1 billion in quarterly net income and the production of more than 200,000 vehicles for the first time despite challenges such as a global semiconductor shortage.
"It … seems that public sentiment towards electric vehicles is at an inflection point, and at this point, I think, almost everyone agrees electric vehicles are the only way forward," Musk said.
Despite rising consumer demand and adequate factory capacity, Tesla faces what Musk described as a "quite serious" global semiconductor shortage, which will determine the company's growth rate for the rest of the year.
With increased revenue and production, Tesla is investing in new factories, Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn said. These include Giga Texas, the $1.1 billion manufacturing plant that broke ground last summer and is slated to open later this year.
The Giga Texas factory in Southeast Travis County has rapidly increased in size since ground broke last August. (Tesla)
Musk commended the construction team for "incredible progress," transforming what was basically a vacant site into "a mostly complete large factory a year later."
Giga Texas will produce the highly anticipated Cybertruck, along with other models, but Musk said scaling its production will be difficult, especially given the supply chain delays caused by the pandemic. "It's going to move as fast as the slowest of its up to 10,000 unique parts," he said.
In other news, Musk said Monday's earnings call would likely be his last regular appearance, only jumping on future quarterly calls when big announcements warrant it.
Tesla Solar recently made news when it announced plans to build the nation's most sustainable residential community in Southeast Austin earlier this month. The newly built homes will feature Tesla solar roof tiles and Powerwall battery storage as well as electric vehicle charging stations.
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