The airport in Toronto is now almost completely empty
Air travel has been reduced to a minimum globally as countries around the world initiate bans on any non-essential trips to curb COVID-19.
At Pearson Airport in Toronto, you can see how precautionary measures for coronavirus have impacted the travel industry: Canada's largest and busiest airport is now almost completely empty.
Baggage claim has become a near-ghost town. And while border security was once pure pandemonium two weeks ago, it's become eerily quiet in the rest of the airport.
Prior to the global pandemic, Pearson's numbers were on the up and up: 2019 saw an increase of 1 million passengers from the year before.
Just earlier this month, the airport was given the Airports Council International World accolade of "Best Large Airport in North America serving more than 40 million passengers".
Last year, the daily average of departures numbered at around 1,250 daily, travelling to more than 180 destinations worlwide.
According the latest numbers, departures today have dropped to just 166 flights. Same goes for arrivals: as of April 1, the number has dropped to a devastatingly low 178.
Pearson's latest stats show that around 33 per cent of their departing flights have been cancelled, as have around 29 per cent of their arrivals.
While the airport is playing a crucial part in the the delivery chain, like cargo operations to supply businesses and frontline workers, and the operating of Ontario's emergency service Ornge, transporting people has gone down to a minimum.
For those passengers arriving back in Toronto on an international flight, they'll have to self-isolate (properly, for god's sake) for the government-mandated length of 14 days. That doesn't apply for domestic flights.
b.m.a.n.
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