A fuel truck sits at the ready at Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport in Penn Township on Thursday. Operations at the normally busy airport are down by about 85 percent due to travel restrictions put into place during the coronavirus pandemic.

Vehicle travel is not the only means of transportation restricted to essential trips due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Aircraft are also subject to the restrictions put in place by Gov. Tom Wolf and many other governors across the United States.

Ike Kelly, manager at the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport in Penn Township, said the Federal Aviation Administration is following the restriction as well by recommending aircraft only take to the sky for essential trips.

He said operations at the normally busy Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport are down by about 85 percent.

“The reduction in operations is due mainly to the travel restrictions,” Kelly said.

All private and commercial hangar tenants at the airport have been paying their rent, but the sale of fuel by AirQuest Aviation at the airport is down by 55 percent to 60 percent as well, Kelly estimated.

The corporate jets that normally land and take off several times per week have all but vanished.

“The majority of corporate air clients are observing the remote conference requirements,” Kelly said.

Business from jets of national charter companies also dropped off.

“We used to see four or five flights a day,” Kelly said.

He said individuals who own private planes and rent a hangar, as well as visiting pilots in small aircraft, also seem to be largely eschewing flying during the travel restrictions.

$69,000 in aid

Kelly said he is waiting for the 30-day mark to calculate the exact decrease in revenue the airport has suffered, but he is glad the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act included funding for airports.

The Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport will receive $69,000 in CARES Act funds.

Kelly said the money will be used to fill the financial gap created by the decrease in revenue.

He said most small planes landing and taking off at the airport at this point are operated by pilots that must do so in order to keep current on their license requirements of performing landings and takeoffs in a 90 day period.

“It maintains your proficiency in operating the aircraft,” Kelly explained.

No staff has been cut at the airport because only Kelly, an administrative assistant and a maintenance supervisors work at the airport. All have continued to work during the pandemic.