Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Sunday afternoon was a far cry from the chaos seen yesterday at Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, where returning international travelers faced reported six-hour waits for custom checks amid growing coronavirus concerns.
Instead, Crain's reporters visiting the busy Southeast Michigan international gateway over the last 24 hours have found largely empty terminals. A Delta Airlines baggage handler said the airport felt significantly quieter than a usual Sunday afternoon.
Kim Wood of Hudson, Wisc., was one of the few people sitting in the Metro Airport international arrivals area on Sunday afternoon. She said she was waiting to pick up her 16-year-old daughter, who was returning home five months early from a German exchange program.
Wood said she was concerned because her daughter had a cold and she was worried she might be found to be showing symptoms of COVID-19 and could be placed in quarantine.
"I just want to get her home," Wood said, adding that she heard customs screening wait times were around an hour.
President Donald Trump last week significantly restricted travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days, the most far-reaching measure yet in the administration's efforts to combat the spread of coronavirus.
An airport spokesperson said Sunday there were no reports of unusually long customs lines at the airport, but referred questions to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Per Department of Homeland Security guidance, Metro Airport is one of 13 airports around the country being used to admit Americans returning from a host of "restricted countries" all battling COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.
The airline industry is expected to be hit hard by the spreading coronavirus, as airlines like Delta Air Lines Inc. — the dominant carrier at Detroit's airport — make significant cuts to their capacity. The airline announced Friday that it would park 300 planes and cut its seating capacity by 40 percent over the coming months as travel demands plummet, according to a report in Bloomberg News.
"The speed of the demand falloff is unlike anything we've seen," said Delta CEO Ed Bastian, who will give up his salary for the next six months. "We are moving quickly to preserve cash and protect our company. And with revenues dropping, we must be focused on taking costs out of our business."
American Airlines has also drastically cut flights, cutting 75 percent of its international capacity in the coming months, according to Reuters.
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March 16, 2020 at 03:12AM
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Metro Airport sees quiet weekend amid coronavirus containment efforts - Crain's Detroit Business
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