Planes, Trains and Automobile Passengers Still Declining at Port Authority in 2021

On Mar 2, 2021

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reported that in January 2021, COVID-19 has continued to impact volumes across its transportation facilities. When compared to pre-COVID volumes from January 2019, airport passenger volumes were down an estimated 73% in January 2021. PATH average weekday ridership also declined in January 2021 by 79% compared to January 2019. At the Port Authority’s bridges and tunnels, vehicular traffic was down 11% in January 2021 compared to January 2019.

The seaport continued to demonstrate resilience and ended January 2021 with an increase of 16% from January 2019.

The Port Authority has estimated that these pandemic-related volume drops will result in a revenue loss of approximately $3 billion for the 24-month period beginning in March 2020.The bistate agency continues to advocate in Washington, D.C. to secure federal funding to offset this steep revenue decline.

Airports:

January 2021 passenger volumes were down an estimated 73% across the Port Authority’s airports compared to January 2019 pre-COVID volumes.

PATH:

PATH reported a January 2021 average weekday ridership of 56,903 riders, down 79% from January 2019.

Tunnels, Bridges, & Terminals:

The Port Authority’s four bridges and two tunnels handled a total of 8.3 million vehicles in January 2021, a decrease of 10.6% compared to January 2019. Automobile traffic was down 10.4%, and truck traffic declined 1.3% in January 2021 compared to January 2019.

Port:

The Port of New York and New Jersey moved 721,284 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) in January 2021, up 16% from January 2019.

This release uses the monthly data comparison of January 2021 to January 2019. The comparison of monthly volumes in 2021 to their 2019 comparable establishes a meaningful and consistent pre-COVID baseline for tracking activity trends at Port Authority facilities as the COVID-19 pandemic enters its second calendar year.

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