President Donald Trump said Wednesday he's "certainly looking at" potentially restricting air travel between some U.S. cities, especially those with significant numbers of coronavirus cases, but conceded that would create yet more pain for the already-hobbled airline sector.

"It's a very, very rough decision," Trump said Wednesday evening at a press briefing. "We are thinking about hot spots where you go from spot to spot — both hot. We will let you know fairly soon."

Asked during the same briefing if he was considering a broader ban or more targeted restrictions, Trump said: "We're looking at the whole thing," and suggested the administration would offer recommendations soon.

Air travel is down dramatically in the last few weeks, with the TSA recording fewer than 200,000 travelers passing through its checkpoints per day this week, compared to more than 2 million at the same time last year. On Tuesday, it reported screening just 146,348 travelers, a ten-year low.