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(Austonia staff)
A small private plane with a flat tire delayed flights out of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport for several hours on Sunday evening.
<p>The airplane, which busted its tire shortly before 6 p.m., was towed off the south end of the west side runway around 9 p.m. </p><p>During those hours it blocked part of the airport's only remaining runway, as the other has been temporarily closed for maintenance. </p><p>The blockage primarily impacted inbound flights, ABIA spokeswoman Mandy McClendon said. It also caused diversions for internal Texas flights. <br/></p><p>Some travelers affected by the delays took to social media.</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="05dc1322eebe689a391893078a917f8e" id="2e0ba"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1330763559073177601"><div style="margin:1em 0">@bravogolf @AUStinAirport Do you know what took so long? I was on a flight that got diverted back to DFW 3 minutes… https://t.co/dkEN8Py6Ha</div> — Doug Hjornevik (@Doug Hjornevik)<a href="https://twitter.com/rr1955/statuses/1330763559073177601">1606113731.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3bd7c7181f7643e65cff3deb4065d5f4" id="cb10a"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1330792384238657537"><div style="margin:1em 0">@JamesMendezATX @JackFromHawaii @AUStinAirport @SouthwestAir Safe but real mad once I found out reason. Someone sho… https://t.co/hBrksrbWtJ</div> — Doug Hjornevik (@Doug Hjornevik)<a href="https://twitter.com/rr1955/statuses/1330792384238657537">1606120603.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>More than one million people traveled by plan in the U.S. on Sunday, <a href="https://www.tsa.gov/coronavirus/passenger-throughput" target="_blank">according to TSA checkpoint travel numbers</a>. This represents less than half the number of fliers who traveled on the same day last year. </p>
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(Paul Sableman/CC)
After a steep decline in travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is finally starting to see traffic return, slowly but surely.
<p>Sunday marked the busiest day the airport had seen since the onset of the pandemic, with 11,006 passengers passing through the terminal on over 100 outbound flights. This traffic is a shift back toward normalcy, as business had dropped by about 97% in April.</p><p>Public information specialist senior Bryce Dubee said traffic has been on a gradual incline for the past few months. A dozen discontinued routes have now been restored and airport traffic is only down by 70%.</p><p>"We are seeing a trend in the positive direction, albeit very gradually," Dubee said. "A lot of that's the reflection of just more flights, meaning more passengers."</p><p>Dubee said with COVID-19 restrictions, business travel has essentially disappeared, leaving mostly leisure travel coming through the terminal. Traffic is still much lower than it would be during the holiday season, one of the busier times of year. A busy day during the holiday season meant more than 20,000 people flying. </p><p>Though the airport is on the road to recovery, Dubee said he doesn't expect the airport to be back up to pre-COVID-19 numbers for years to come.</p><p>"Right now industry wide, the overall recovery process is depending on several things and I think the overall recovery at this point is going to be several years before we get back to those numbers that we were seeing in 2019," Dubee said. "We're catching back up to where we were but it's not going to be an immediate recovery. This is going to be a long gradual process to work through for us."</p>
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(Austin Bergstrom International Airport)
Zack Morgan playing the piano during his set at the airport.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is keeping the tradition of live music at the airport alive.
<p>The airport has reinstated its in-terminal music program with AUS Live and Instrumental bringing live music back to passengers waiting for their flights and continuing to provide paid gigs for local musicians in light of COVID-19. </p><p>The program has undergone some changes due to the pandemic: musicians are now required to play only instrumental music while wearing a mask for the duration of their performance and maintain safe distance, the equipment is sanitized in-between uses, performing areas are stanchioned off with plexiglass and musicians must use a virtual tip jar. The switch to only instrumental music is due to singing being a high-risk COVID-19 activity. </p><p>The airport said it hires exclusively Austin musicians, and has one of the most robust music programs in the country—matching the city's title of live music capital of the world. </p><p>Zack Morgan, a local keyboardist, said he enjoyed playing at the airport recently because he got to share his music again in a safe way.</p><p>"First and foremost, it felt safe and well-thought-out," Morgan said in a press release. "On top of that, I was able to make good money and bring some smiles to the travelers who are so accustomed to live music at our airport. I was also able to live stream my performance and share the music even further."</p><p>Before COVID-19, Michael Pennock, AUS music coordinator, booked around 30 musicians per week, but now only about three are booked a week. The airport plans to bring back live music to the Asleep at the Wheel main stage and various restaurant locations in November.</p><p>Pennock said people often tell him that they missed the music at the airport.</p><p>"With the music industry being decimated by COVID-19, this is our first step forward to bringing live music back at AUS and supporting local musicians," Pennock said. "Music brings people joy and will help bring some small sense of normalcy back. We all need that right now."</p><p><br/></p><p><strong>More on the airport: </strong></p>
<h2><a href="https://austonia.com/austin-airport-traffic" target="_self">Austin airport shows disturbing trend with passenger traffic still way down from last year</a></h2>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUxODg2NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTY3NDU2MH0.IC5mMqTVVn5bTG59L0-0PtL8xSfksd7-PxzEN0P7zAM/img.jpg?width=980" id="88082" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="68a46843667660945e6a73f00174518f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Austin airport shows disturbing trend with passenger traffic still way down from last year(Dion Hinchcliffe/Flickr)
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