Coronavirus In Minnesota: Hundreds Of Flights Cancelled At MSP Airport
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport - which would normally be buzzing with spring break vacationers - was so quiet Wednesday that you could hear footsteps.
By the afternoon, 362 flights had been cancelled for the day, with passenger screening down 85% for the time of year.
As for the flights that are still on, most passengers are just trying to get home.
Cora Jordan is from Spain and has lived with her host family in Mora since August. She planned to stay in Minnesota through the rest of the school year, but her plans quickly changed.
"I just woke up like four days ago maybe and they were like you're going back home. And I'm like ok," Jordan said.
Her family is worried about her traveling in this situation.
"They're worried about me traveling in this situation. Going to Europe and getting stranded there because I have to go to Amsterdam before flying to Barcelona," said Jordan.
Liyin Zhang too is heading across the globe too, back to China.
She'll be on the same flight as Max Bure, though he'll stop off at Los Angeles. Their flight was about as empty as it gets: perhaps a good thing for social distancing.
Bure, a high school hockey player with Northstar Christian Academy, had is season cut suddenly short.
"I'm not anxious or super nervous to get it. I'm more nervous to get it and spread it to other people," he said.
Most of the people are at MSP Airport aren't passengers. They're workers.
The union representing MSP's contracted workers are asking to be included in the $60 billion bailout for the airline industry. That includes people like janitors and cabin cleaners.
Right now, the union says it's been excluded from the airline's proposals.
