Eugene Airport draws large crowds as the holiday season comes to a close

Officials with Eugene Airport said over the two week holiday period, the airport was at 42% capacity.

It's the last day of the holiday season -- and it's expected that one point three million people will be flying today -- returning home from their holiday destination.

Kezi nine news reporter connor mccarthy joins us live from the eugene airport.

And connor i know you spoke with a lot of travelers there today -- what was their experience like -- flying in the middle of a pandemic?

Jillian-- travelers leaving western oregon and arriving in the area say they felt safe for most of their journey.

They say airprots are clean and airlines are going above and beyond to keep things clean.

The tsa says 14 million people have gone through security check points across the country -- and here in eugene -- ive seen people flooding in and out of here -- all day long.

The video you see here on your screen is from this afternoon during the miday rush.

The eugene airport says over the two week holiday period-- their capacity was at 42 percent-- about 11 percent higher than the national average.

But one official here says they've werent suprised by this given -- the've been hovering around this number before the holidays even started.

Other airport across the country -- havent been as lucky -- including pdx -- which has been hit hard by this pandemic with significantly less people traveling in and out of there.

One traveler i spoke to here in eugene says although she felt safe when she was up in the air -- she didn't feel comfortable sitting in the san francisco airport terminal because of how busy it was.

"the only reason why i flew is because it's a 10 hour drive up here and it's a lot easier for me and there's a lot of people in the same situation.

It's mind blowing there's still this many people flying in the middle of a pandemic the eugene airport says they have taken extra steps to make sure their concourses are clean.

The airport was one of ten in the coutnry to recieve a global biorisk advisory council star certification for their cleanliness.

And jillian -- obviously their cleanliness here has paid off as people continue to feel safe enough to fly out of this airport -- despite health officials plea to stay home.

As you can see -- its much more quiet here right now.

But things are expected to pick back up this evening -- with one more round of arrivals.

Officials here believe business will pick up even more -- once more oregonians get the vaccine.

Live in eugene connor mccarthy kezi