Americans across the country will flock to Washington in about a week to be a part of President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration, and many are traveling by way of Baltimore.
Several airlines, led by Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways, have added 30 flights in and out of Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in the days leading up to and the day after the Jan. 20 ceremony.
The flights will bring an additional 3,000 passengers in and out of BWI before and after the inauguration, said BWI spokesman Jonathan Dean. On an average day, about 57,000 passengers pass through BWI, either by flight arrival or departure.
“The activity at the airport will probably be similar to a day with busy holiday travel,” said Dean, who added that BWI will increase its customer service staff to handle the increased passenger load.
Southwest, the largest air carrier at BWI, has added 16 total flights into and out of BWI to meet the increased demand in key cities between Jan. 17 and Jan. 22.
The airline added flights into and out of BWI from Austin, Birmingham, Ala., Houston, St. Louis, Kansas City, Mo., Chicago and San Diego.
Southwest also added additional flights into and out of Washington Dulles International Airport in the days before and after the inauguration.
“We carefully combed through our flight schedule and were able to add these flights from key cities into both Baltimore/Washington and Washington Dulles during peak travel times,” said Pete McGlade, Southwest Airlines vice president of schedule planning.
AirTran, BWI’s second-largest air carrier, has added more flights between Atlanta and BWI and Milwaukee and BWI on Jan. 21. AirTran decided to add more flights after the inauguration because travelers will arrive in Washington on various days, but almost all want to return home the day after the ceremony.
“We’ve had tremendous requests for flights to Washington during the period surrounding the presidential inauguration, and we want to accommodate our customers by adding flights to meet the demand,” said Kevin Healy, senior vice president of marketing and planning for AirTran.
Other airlines, including US Airways, Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines, have added a few flights in and out of BWI and are using larger aircraft for the flights, Dean said.
Dean expects Jan. 21 to be the busiest day at BWI for inauguration travel because of return flights for inauguration visits.
