Sunport advises travelers to arrive two hours before flight

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – It’s the busiest time of year for the Albuquerque International Sunport. Even with a pandemic, tens of thousands of people are traveling to and from New Mexico.

"It’s really nice to come back home and see everyone. It’s a little stressful to be on a packed plane still, I’m a little worried about COVID, but it’s not bad," said a traveler.

Sunport officials are expecting this week to be the busiest week that they’ve had in two years.

"This is definitely going to be one of our busiest travel periods during the start of the pandemic,” said Stephanie Kitts, public information officer for the Sunport.

Kitts said it’s all hands on deck, with extra safety precautions and staff to make sure everything goes smoothly for passengers.

"They are definitely staff and ready. We are not experiencing any shortages in staffing at the checkpoint,” she said.

But they aren’t expecting a full comeback in travelers.

In 2019, the Sunport had about 17,000 travelers from Wednesday to Sunday. This year, they expect it to be about 13,000.

"We are not at the full capacity that we were in 2019. Meaning, we either don’t have as many flights or there are smaller aircraft here so there are not as many seats,” said Kitts.

Still, Kitts recommends people arrive at least two hours before the flight leaves – just to anticipate delays in lines and at security.