Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport response to COVID-19

PULLMAN, WASH.– Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport prepped terminal and aircrafts for COVID-19 virus by implementing CDC posters and hand sanitizer stations throughout the facility.

Tony Bean, executive director for  Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport, has credited the readiness of the airport to the extensive outreach programs.

“I traveled through Phoenix international, nothing out of the ordinary, just a few extra hand sanitizers. I just got back from Seattle international and the same thing. And what they’re doing we’re doing here,” Bean said.

Much of the responsibility lies with the airline carriers. In recent weeks, various airlines have discontinued flights or services in light of the 2019 Novel coronavirus. Alaska Airlines Horizon is the only carrier for Pullman-Moscow.

As students head off for spring break, Washington State University has mandated online-only instruction for the remainder of the semester. This implementation is in response to the health crisis happening around the state.

If Alaska notices that fewer and fewer people are traveling through Pullman, it could cause a loss of revenue for the airport as well as a lack of services for customers, Bean said.

The main differentiator between the Pullman airport and other airports is the customers they serve: students. Of course, students are not the only customers that travel via Horizon Air; however, being located in a college town invites heavy travel during the break season.

Fergus Nancarrow is a Junior studying Viticulture and Enology and has been traveling through the airport since his freshman year. Unlike many Cougs, Nancarrow needs to make a few different stops to reach his final destination.

“I have a ton of family in New Zealand, so whenever I have long breaks we try to get over there to visit with them…but with all [COVID-19] going on, it’s definitely made me look at flying differently,” Nancarrow said.

The flight patterns from Pullman-Moscow and SeaTac, it is a large loop. A loop that could have transported W.S.U. students with dormant COVID-19 to Pullman, Bean said.

Bean believes that the airport is doing the most that they can, aside from washing someone’s hands for them, and is awaiting further instruction from SeaTac, the CDC and Alaska Airlines.