Sea-Tac sees no negative impact to travel numbers from Trump order

President Donald Trump’s travel ban announcement reportedly flattened international travel numbers around the country, but that wasn’t the case in Seattle.

When Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27 that banned travel to the US by people from seven predominantly Muslim countries, it led to a sort of chaos. Hundreds gathered to protest the unexpected order and two people were detained, even though an executive Director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project said neither was born in one of the banned countries.

Protests were also held at airports around the country, but the ban itself may also have ripped into their bottom lines. The New York Times reported that data showed demand for travel to the U.S. took a nosedive in the days following the ban. One airfare prediction app said demand dropped 17 percent from Jan. 26 to Feb. 1 but bounced back by 7 percent once the ban was initially lifted on Feb. 3. But that was on the low end of worry. Another site found searches to America declined by 47 percent.

Seattle is a destination for multiple international airlines, including Xiamen – out of China – and Volaris – based in Guadalajara – both of which started at Sea-Tac last year. Virgin Atlantic will also take over Delta’s route from London in March and seasonal flights to Cologne, Germany from Eurowings – part of Lufthansa – are to start in July.

But beyond Europe and Mexico, there is also Emirates Airline, which flies from countries including Iraq and Iran — two of the White House’s seven banned countries.

Port of Seattle spokesperson Brian DeRoy said Sea-Tac does not have specific numbers from Jan. 26 to Feb. 3, but noted that record travel numbers continue to be set at the airport. That includes January, when more than 3.3 million passengers traveled through the airport – a 6.8 percent increase from a year prior. About 172,000 international passengers were processed in January 2017, an increase of 14.1 percent versus 2016.

The Trump administration is reportedly expected to roll out a revised executive order on immigration as early as this week. DeRoy said he wouldn’t expect a giant dent in Sea-Tac’s international travel numbers because the airport’s main overseas market is in Asia.

“Given the records, we’re not seeing much of an impact,” he said. “… The question becomes: How long? One weekend, probably not. If you’re looking at multiple weeks, one month, then who knows. We don’t want to speculate too much.

“You aren’t going to have as many people from Beijing canceling, is the way to think about it,” he added.

Sea-Tac setting records

DeRoy said a record 45.7 million people came through Sea-Tac in 2016. That was 3.4 million more people than in 2015, which was already an 8 percent increase from 2014, which was a 13 percent increase from 2013. DeRoy credited the economy, lower airfare and new flights from Delta and Alaska Airlines for the growth.

DeRoy said, primarily because of its geographic location in the Pacific Northwest, a bulk of the people coming through Sea-Tac are “origin,” meaning not just passing through on connections. That, he said, makes Sea-Tac a bigger boon to the local economy than hub airports is in cities like Charlotte or Houston since it generally means more tourism in and around the city.

“There are more touch points here,” DeRoy said.

The Times reported that travel analysts say the bigger concern related to the travel ban is the potential damage to tourism. Washington legislators are currently discussing a bipartisan proposal to create a Tourism Marketing Authority, to replace the state’s tourism office that closed in 2011. KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz recently wrote why he is not thrilled with that idea.

Sea-Tac security lines

Although international travel has hit some complications, Sea-Tac says it has never been easier to get through its security lines.

With long security lines mounting in 2016, airport director Lance Lyttle said he would be looking outside the box for solutions. That included the possibility of dropping TSA for private security. In May, airport officials announced that several dozen contract employees would be hired to assist passengers at security checkpoints, with the goal of freeing up TSA agents and reducing passenger wait times. In June, Lyttle said average wait times had dipped to between 10 and 15 minutes.

DeRoy said that TSA wait times on the Thursday and Friday before President’s Day weekend in 2016 had been up to 75 minutes. This past holiday weekend, the peak hit 20 minutes during a busy morning rush, but the average was 10 minute or less, he said.

“The airport director made that a focus, that the President’s Day meltdown is not going to happen again,” he said.

DeRoy said TSA is hitting the airport’s goal of 20 minutes or less thanks to additional staffing on holidays, as well as a greater flexibility to use overtime. DeRoy said the airport has also reconfigured the checkpoints and added drink dump stations, which help expedite the process.

Cox Media Group