As July 4th draws near, record numbers of passengers are arriving at American airports

The volume of passengers passing through American airports on Sunday set a record that may not be maintained until the following weekend.

According to the Transportation Security Administration, about 3 million travelers were inspected at airports on Sunday, shattering the previous record established on May 24, the Friday before Memorial Day.
The TSA’s projection for Friday, when a significant number of individuals will be initiating their travel plans for the July 4 holiday in advance, is not just to surpass the 3-million threshold, but to further underline the escalating travel trend, setting the stage for a potentially record-breaking holiday travel season.

TSA Administrator David Pekoske stated, “We anticipate this summer to be our busiest ever, and summer travel typically peaks over the Independence Day holiday.”

There were 2,996,193 TSA users on Sunday, which is around 45,000 higher than the 2,951,163 users that passed through checkpoints on May 24.

This year, the TSA has had seven of the ten busiest days since traffic is still rapidly recovering from the coronavirus outbreak.

The TSA anticipates screening over 32 million individuals on average every day between Thursday and July 8, the Monday after the holiday. That would represent a 5.4% gain compared to the same period last year.

According to Airlines for America, a trade association representing the biggest American airline, air travel is set to increase 6.3% this summer compared to last, a promising sign of our industry’s recovery and the public’s confidence in travel.