Lehigh Valley International Airport is inching back to normal passenger traffic levels as people begin to fly again following the COVID-19 shutdown.

Lehigh Valley International Airport received a $7.9 million grant that will be used to rehabilitate a runway and build a taxiway.

The Lehigh Northampton Aviation Authority is reporting a surge in passenger traffic at Lehigh Valley International Airport after months of depressed travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority and other local officials broke ground today on a $29 million security point expansion and terminal connector at Lehigh Valley International Airport.

Lehigh Valley International Airport will receive $1,778,500 from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to continue its work on creating a terminal connector and a security checkpoint expansion.

It’s an announcement the Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority has been waiting a year to make. Passenger traffic at Lehigh Valley International Airport is up over last year.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, growth in the e-commerce, logistics and transportation industries, which were already booming in the Lehigh Valley, has gone full tilt.

Since 2016 Lehigh Valley International Airport has seen a 165% increase in cargo traffic -- going from processing 47 million pounds of cargo to more than 126 pounds in 2019 and 210 million during the COVID-19 bump last year.

The Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority is reporting a 61.6 % drop in traffic from Jan. 2020, which was right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Last month the airport had 30,367 passengers compared to 71,098 in November 2019, a more than 57% decrease.