RALEIGH-DURHAM — The thought of flying during a pandemic might make some people shutter. But here’s a silver lining: Those who have flown in the last few months say it’s not all that bad.

That’s according to a survey released by Raleigh-Durham (RDU) Airport Authority today.

RDU surveyed passengers in July to evaluate their perceptions about safety in the airport and on an airplane, and found that 75 percent of respondents report that they would feel safe flying from RDU.

Compare that to 27 percent of respondents who have not traveled.

Two-thirds of respondents reported being at least somewhat concerned about the safety of their travel prior to their flight, but 51 percent of those who traveled during the health crisis indicated that they felt safer about flying after their trip — compared to 21 percent who reported feeling less safe.

Customer feedback indicates that social distancing, the cleanliness of RDU’s facilities and the widespread wearing of masks among passengers and airport employees contributed to enhanced feelings of safety.

“The survey shows that customers are confident in the precautions RDU is taking to provide a safe and healthy travel experience, but the most important takeaway is that people are concerned about the actions of other passengers,” said Michael Landguth, RDU’s president and CEO, in a statement.

“Wearing a mask at the airport is the single most important thing you can to do to instill confidence in air travel and get the Triangle moving again.”

RDU emailed the survey to more than 9,600 ParkRDU customers from July 27 to July 31. A statistically valid sample of nearly 400 people responded, with a margin of error of 5 percent.

The survey objectives were to understand barriers to airline travel during the pandemic, evaluate safety perceptions and their relevance to RDU’s business operations, develop key learnings to guide our strategic decision making and develop a set of data-driven recommendations.

RDU traffic plummets

RDU recently reported that passenger traffic plummeted in July from a year ago – further evidence of the pandemic’s impact on travel.

RDU said “traditionally” busy July traffic was down 77.1 percent from a year ago as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hinder air travel, North Carolina Business News Wire reported on August 21.

During July, 154,859 passengers boarded flights at RDU. Last year, RDU said July 2019 was its busiest month on record with 675, 168 passengers.

“The aviation industry continues to feel the effects of the global pandemic and government restrictions that discourage non-essential travel,” Landguth said at the time.

Interestingly, leisure travel is returning before business travel, the survey noted, with low air fares during the COVID pandemic attracting a younger, more value-oriented customer.

Additional key findings of the survey are:

  • Consumers under the age of 35 were twice as likely to travel during the pandemic than consumers over 35.
  • Consumers with annual household incomes below $200,000 were twice as likely to travel as those earning more than $200,000 per year.
  • Passengers traveling during the pandemic were most likely flying to visit family members:
  • 55 percent report visiting family as the reason for their travel during the pandemic, while 34 percent indicated that they were traveling for vacation or leisure.
  • 32 percent indicated they were flying for business during the pandemic, compared to business travel making up 52 percent of RDU traffic prior to the pandemic.

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