Passenger Traffic Increasing at Barnstable Municipal Airport

HYANNIS – Barnstable Municipal Airport is beginning to see an increase in ridership with the state now in Phase Three of Governor Charlie Baker’s reopening plan.

“We have a lot of residents and visitors and business travelers that are really starting to come back and use the facility,” said Airport Manager Katie Servis.  

“We’ve prepared for that, as a transportation facility we’ve been open. As part of the statewide shutdown the airport itself was one of those essential businesses that was open during the entire process.”

New protocols and procedures have been put in place to provide a safe environment for passengers and staff.

Precautions taken by the airport include making modifications in the terminal building that provide social distancing reminders on the floors and in the seating areas, cleaning and disinfecting public and open spaces on a regular basis, and requiring passengers and staff members to wear a mask when in the terminal building.

“It’s just to take those precautions that Governor Baker has been asking everyone to take as they roll into different phases of the reopening plan,” said Servis.  

“We are doing what we can from a cleaning and disinfecting of our services and our facility as much as possible to allow people to feel safe when they are in this space.”

Barnstable Municipal Airport currently has two airlines operating out of it with a third on the way.

Cape Air provides year round transportation at the airport and last week, Southern Airways Express’ began their nonstop Nantucket to Hyannis service.

According to Servis, JetBlue Airways is set to return to the airport on Saturday, August 1.

“They’ll be arriving here on August 1 here at the airport right now tentatively operating for a month,” Servis said.

“There’s a lot of folks used to that service that was provided by JetBlue that was coming in from New York, whether they were coming in for vacation or they have a second home here on the Cape, that was a very productive service for them and so I’m sure that there’s many people that are anticipating them to come back and allow for that service right into Hyannis.”   

All three airlines have health safety precautions in place to combat the spread of COVID-19 including the disinfecting of planes after use and requiring all passengers and staff to wear masks on board.

Servis added that airport has a plan in place to assist JetBlue with social distancing protocols as the airline can carry up to 100 passengers.

“We have hold rooms to queue people in the line to get ready to go into the TSA screening checkpoint but still allowing them to be socially distant,” Servis said.  

“So we’ve worked with the airline and the TSA to allow for staggered loading and unloading of passengers so they can remain as socially distant as possible so we have a lot of those producers already in place in anticipation of the August 1 arrival.”

Servis continued to stress that the airport is open and has health safety precautions in place to provide safe service to passengers.

For more information on Barnstable Municipal Airport, click here.

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