Fewer flyers expected this holiday season as people opt for road-trips

ELKHART, Ind. --- Despite the urging from health officials, people are still making travel plans for Thanksgiving. Instead of flights though, people are packing up the car for a road trip, as they deem this the safer option. 

"Our flights are down 23% this year compared to the flights last year, nationwide that number for the holiday season is down 40%," said Vice President of Marketing at the South Bend International Airport.

According to Tripadvisor, 56% of people surveyed say they are traveling for Thanksgiving this year. Of that 56%, 76 of those are choosing a road trip over a flight, as they try to avoid exposure to Covid-19. 

"We expect travel to be down all of 2020 it's hard to say exactly how far down, because at the lowest in April we were down 95%. We have picked up as recently as October, where we are down 45%," said Curtis. 

The pandemic is affecting the entire airline and aviation industry. Companies that deal with private clientele like the Indiana Flight Center, are feeling the impact that fewer people are opting for flights. 

"I would say personal flying is down, I mean almost 100%, and business flying is down every bit of 50% if not more," said Vice President of Indiana Flight Center Brandon Herzog.

This has left the industry facing its stiffest challenge yet. 

"Covid has become very difficult more so than any almost issue we've dealt with," said Herzog.