Nashville Airport says Memorial Weekend flights rise 500 percent this year from 2020

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Nashville International Airport’s numbers of Memorial Day weekend passengers are up about 500 percent from the same weekend last last year.

Hotels and airports are seeing a major increase of people compared to this time last year. Anderson Hospitality Group’s Telia Butler says in 2020, Bowling Green hotel occupancy for Memorial Day Weekend was only 10 percent.

Now, that number is up to 50 percent for the holiday weekend.

The pandemic was hard on Butler’s fellow co-workers. Her Bowling Green hospitality company cut 75 percent of its staff in March 2020. Slowly but surely, that number is steadily returning to normal.

Also, Nashville International Airport reports almost pre-pandemic numbers of flyers.  Airport spokeswoman Kym Gerlock says in 2020, only 8,000-9,000 people walked in and out of Nashville Airport for Memorial Day Weekend.

COVID-19 caused Nashville International Airport’s numbers to become 95 percent lower than they had seen at one point. This year, that number of passengers is 50,000 – a roughly 500 percent increase.