Some brave holiday travel despite pandemic

Despite an anticipated decrease in holiday travel this year, some are still taking to the sky this Thanksgiving.

Early signs of covid-19's impact on the holiday travel season thanks for joining us, i'm alan van zandt.

Estimates predict many will skip travel altogether amid the pandemic this year, but some say safety measures are enough for them to catch a flight.

Kq2's ron johnson has more now from kci.

<<ron johnson reportingafter such a turbulent year, the holiday travel season is getting underway, and like everything else this year it too is unlike any other.

At the kansas city international airport, covid-19 is expected to keep many travelers grounded this year.

Last year, airport staff said an estimated 400,000 passengers traveled with kci.

This year, they're only expecting about 180,000 to take to the sky, that's would be a 55% decrease.

Staff and travelers here at kci say traffic is down overall this year compared to last, nevertheless we still caught up with some planning to venture out this holiday season.

...specifically college studentsflying was definitely the better option.

Many attending our area universities are flying back to their hometowns now as the pandemic has cut their fall semester short this year.

We considered other options but this ended up just being the easiest way for me to get from point a to point b.

This freshman, wrapping up her first semester at benedictine college is headed home to minneapolis for the holiday break.

She felt it was safe to make the tripwith all of like the precautions that are put into place, i felt okay like signing up to fly back home.

And she wasn't the only one was pretty open to it, driving isn't a very accessible option, it's a long ways away.

These two freshmen from ku also making the trip home to chicago, they said they've taken their own precautions.we actually had an opportunity to get tested for covid beforehand so we know that we're all safe.

With the pandemic surging across the country, these travelers say it will defiantly be top of mind even after they reach their destinations we're keeping groups smaller , wearing masks social distancing kind of making sure we're taking care of ourselves and everything like that.

Ron johnson kq2 news.

Starting today the airport had 200 flights available for travelers, a first since the onset of the