SWAMPSCOTT — Despite the perception by residents that more and louder airplanes have been passing over town on their way to and from Boston, the seeming increase is just that: a perception.

Alice Stein, Swampscott’s representative on the Massport Community Advisory Committee, told the Select Board last week that air traffic at Logan International Airport is still down approximately 44 percent compared to 2019 due to the pandemic.

“We are seeing what feels like increased volume and increased noise disturbance in our home, but in reality it’s a perception,” she told the board Wednesday. “We corresponded with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and they confirmed for us that there have been no procedural changes. What is happening is the flight operators are taking it upon themselves due to low volume to have a little more flexibility when flying.”

Stein explained that under normal conditions, pilots coming into the airport use beacons and other technology to navigate, but because there are fewer planes in the sky, they are able to navigate visually and don’t have to follow as rigid a path.

According to Stein, Massachusetts Port Authority, or Massport, which oversees Logan, is considering shifting flight paths of approaching planes slightly north so that they travel over the Nahant causeway instead of Swampscott. However, this change would not be approved or implemented until later this year.

Asked how long it will be until the airport is at normal traffic volume again, Stein said that there was no way to predict that.

“It’s an eight-ball that we don’t have,” she said.

Tréa Lavery can be reached at [email protected].