Here's how the QC Airport fared during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020

The Quad City International Airport was off to a good start for 2020, but wound up seeing a 58% decline in traffic year-over-year after the pandemic started. 

In January and February 2020 the airport was reaching numbers above average. But when the COVID-19 pandemic widely hit the United States in mid-March, the airport started seeing a sharp dip in passengers. 

According to airport statistics, April was their worst month, with a 95% decline in passengers. Between 2016 and 2019, the airport would typically host an average of 57,936 people in the month of April.  The pandemic took that number down to 2,734 for April 2020.

Here's the breakdown of their highest to lowest traffic-yielding months in 2020:

1. February - 55,694 passengers | up 8% from average*
2. January - 54,033 passengers | up 2% from average
3. March - 35,802 passengers | down 43% from average
4. October - 26,415 passengers | down 58% from average
5. December - 24,056 passengers | down 56% from average
6. November - 22,910 passengers | down 60% from average
7. July - 22,088 passengers | down 64% from average
8. August - 20,735 passengers | down 64% from average
9. September - 20,224 passengers | down 62% from average
10. June - 14,390 passengers | down 76% from average
11. May - 7,068 passengers | down 88% from average
12. April - 2,734 passengers | down 95% from average 

*averages calculated based on number of passengers from 2016-2019

The green line in the chart below shows the number of total monthly passengers for 2020. Blue is 2019, red is 2018, orange is 2017 and purple is 2016. 

After the dive in March and April 2020, traffic crept back up through July before resuming the usual traffic patterns, only this year with far fewer travelers.

Airport public relations and marketing manager Ashleigh Johnston called 2020 "tumultuous" but said their decline stayed on pace with the decline that airports all over the country saw during the pandemic.

The pandemic prompted three of the QC airport's 11 routes to cancel, but in February nonstop service to Denver will return. Johnston said the return of the Denver flight is expected to help traffic pick back up.  That flight returns February 11, 2021. 

As societal changes were made to protect people during the pandemic, the airport installed hand sanitizing stations, terminal signage, made overhead announcements and placed social distancing decals around the airport to keep people adhering to state guidelines. Cleaning protocols were increased and free face coverings were also handed out starting in June.