As coronavirus slows traffic at Charlotte airport, most of its parking lots will close
Starting Monday, all but one parking lot at Charlotte Douglas International Airport will be closed — a change that reflects the sharp decline in airline traffic caused by the coronavirus.
The hourly deck will remain open, and the maximum cost for parking there will be will be reduced to $10 a day, the airport announced Friday. Parking for the first hour will remain free.
The entrance to the lot is along Josh Birmingham Parkway to the left as drivers approach the terminal.
The other parking lots will be closed to incoming vehicles starting on Monday, but they will remain open for departing vehicles. Buses will continue to shuttle returning passengers to vehicles remaining in the other lots.
“This, along with continued deep cleaning of buses at the beginning of each shift, will lessen potential exposure (to the coronavirus),” airport officials said in a news release.
The hourly deck has 4,400 spaces on levels four through seven reserved for customers. Levels one through three house the airport’s rental car facility.
Airport aviation director Brent Cagle said that because the hourly lot is near the terminal, those who park there will be able to get to the terminal without riding a bus.
Cagle also noted that many shops and restaurants inside the airport have closed because “there’s just not enough business.”
And he predicted that business will not pick up anytime soon. “We expect it to be a matter of months, not weeks,” he told the Observer.
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