Over 670K New Yorkers flying for Thanksgiving despite dire COVID-19 warnings
Overall, the number of NYC fliers is down 55% from the 1.5M who took to the skies last year during Thanksgiving week
Punta Cana is hot but Chicago is not this Thanksgiving, according to data showing 670,000 travelers still plan to fly out of New York City airports this year despite record levels of COVID-19 cases spreading across the country.
About 275,300 passengers are expected to fly out of JFK, while another 271,700 booked flights out of Newark, and 127,100 travelers are estimated to be flying from LaGuardia, according to airline ticket-sale stats provided to The Post by aviation analytics firm OAG. It looked at bookings at the three major airports, along with Stewart in Orange County, as of Thursday for travel between Nov. 23 and 29.
UNITED, AMERICAN AIRLINES TO SCRAP CHANGE FEES FOR OVERSEAS FLIGHTS
Overall, the number of NYC fliers is down 55 percent from the 1.5 million who took to the skies last year during Thanksgiving week.
Bookings to last year’s most popular Thanksgiving destination, Los Angeles, are down 52 percent, while London is expecting 77 percent fewer travelers from New York. Boston (-74 percent); Chicago (-66 percent); Charlotte, NC (-60 percent), and San Francisco (-59 percent) are also off the map.
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More New Yorkers — 42,100 — will fly to Orlando than any other place. About 38,400 are headed to Ft. Lauderdale; 33,200 to Atlanta; 27,700 to Los Angeles, and 25,000 to Miami.
DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, THESE CITIES ARE THE MOST EXPENSIVE TO LIVE IN THE WORLD
Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic can expect an additional 800 NYC tourists compared to last year, while 2,200 more fliers are planning trips to Cancun, Mexico. Bookings to Key West, Cabo, Myrtle Beach and Nantucket are also up, the data show.
Millions of other Americans, meanwhile, have canceled Turkey Day plans amid a surge in coronavirus cases in some parts of the country. A whopping 74 percent of people say they will stay home for the holiday, according to a new Monmouth University poll. Just 25 percent plan to travel, and only 10 percent said they will stay somewhere overnight.
On Thursday, as the US death toll from the virus climbed to 250,000, the CDC issued a strong warning against traveling.