ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Millions of people will be traveling for the Christmas holidays in the coming weeks, and the Liberal Municipal Airport staff is expecting to be part of that.
“Last year's travel season ended up really well for Liberal Municipal Airport, our numbers ended up being really, really good. Since we've partnered with SkyWest, our numbers have increased, and that's been great to see. Everyone really likes SkyWest since they're very reliable and don't have to cancel a lot of flights compared to some airlines, and that's really great for people preparing their holiday travel plans, especially if they're planning on flying out of Liberal,” Airport Manager Brian Fornwalt said. “I think we'll see a lot of travelers again this year. We've got a lot of college students who will be flying home for the holiday, and we have a lot of other families who will be flying. Thanksgiving and Christmas are when we see really big numbers with the Liberal Municipal Airport, and I expect we'll see that again this time around. I'm not sure exactly how many will be flying out of here this month, I typically don't get the numbers until the beginning of the next month – i.e., I'll get December's numbers shortly after the start of January, so I can't fully say that right now. Plus, there are still tickets and reservations being made, so that number would fluctuate anyway. I can make a rough guess and have a general expectation, but I couldn't give an exact number quite yet.”
AAA is predicting 115.2 million Americans will travel during the 2024 Christmas and New Year's period, which is a 2.2 percent increase from the previous year and the second-highest number of travelers since AAA began tracking travel in 2000. AAA is also predicting 7.5 million passengers will travel by air, which is higher than the previous record of 7.3 million set in 2019 as well as higher road traffic Monday, Dec. 23, and Saturday, Dec. 28.
Fornwalt said the airport kept busy for the Thanksgiving travelers and said he expects roughly the same trend for the upcoming Christmas holiday.
“The week of Thanksgiving was really busy for us since everyone was flying out, and the week after Thanksgiving was also really busy for us since everyone was flying back to Liberal, so we've been keeping pretty busy recently. There have been multiple recent flights that have had 20, 30 or more passengers, which is big for us,” Fornwalt said. “With Christmas Eve and Christmas Day being on weekdays, and in the middle of the week, no less, I couldn't fully say what the numbers will be those days. I would think maybe the weekend before Christmas will be pretty busy, but it really depends on what everyone's plans are and various other circumstances. Not to say Christmas Eve and Christmas Day won't be busy, but again, it just depends on what the passengers are planning.”
For those who are planning to travel by air in Liberal, Fornwalt said there are some preparations people should make before their trip.
“We recommend customers get here at least an hour before their flight so they can get checked in and all of that, and I always recommend having everything out and ready to go like your ticket, driver's license, passport, etc. so you can get in and have everything go smoothly,” Fornwalt said. “I also recommend looking at the TSA Web site if you need a bit of extra guidance on what can/can't be brought onto the plane, there's a lot of good information there. We're not a big airport compared to Wichita or Chicago or New York, but we do have pretty good crowds this time of year, so we do encourage people to get here early. I remember saying this last year, but the times we have are when the plane is supposed to be on the runway and taking off, so it's better to get here early. Like anything else, it's good to get tickets and all of those arrangements done ahead of time so you KNOW everything is reserved and ready to go and everything else. It's never fun scrambling at the last minute for that stuff, so if you know what date(s) you're going to be flying, go ahead and get your tickets and everything else so that anxiety isn't weighing on you. Also, prices change, so make sure you're reserving at a time when you can get the best deal(s). If anyone has any questions or anything, they can also call the airport at (620) 626-2207, and we'll help you however we can.”
As busy as the holiday will be, Fornwalt said it will be a bit of time before things calm down at the airport.
“We expect to be busy after Christmas, especially since shortly afterward is the New Year's holiday, and some people will probably be traveling for that as well,” Fornwalt said. “Like I said earlier, we see a lot of passengers around the holidays, and I don't expect to see anything majorly different this time around. And like everyone else in the Midwest, we'll be keeping an eye on the weather and making sure everything is okay, because you never know when a crazy storm will blow through, especially around the Denver area.”
Overall, Fornwalt said, he hopes everyone has safe travels.
“Our staff here at the airport is ready to go and ready to help all the travelers planning on coming through, and if everyone will exercise some grace and patience as they're going through security and everything else, that will also be a big help,” Fornwalt sad. “We hope everyone has safe and happy holiday travels, wherever they may be going.”
