Idaho Falls airport director talks 2020 numbers

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - Airports across the country saw a decrease in passengers in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, Rick Cloutier, the Idaho Falls Regional Airport director, says they fared pretty well.

In 2019, IDA saw about 375,000 passengers. 2020 saw about 250,000, for 62% of 2019's numbers.

Cloutier says during the first couple months of the pandemic, the airport was virtually a ghost town, but traffic picked up during the summer.

Cloutier says the increase was due to the proximity of national parks and other outdoor activities.

"We were kind of the recipients of everybody wanting to get outside last year, the year of the great outdoors," Cloutier said. "So with our proximity to the national parks, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and some of the best fishing and outdoor activities in the world, we were the recipients of a lot of that travel."