Airlines Have Biggest Travel Day of Pandemic Era

Oh, it’s on.

The travel surge that airlines were hoping for – and in many ways were expecting – is on.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) this morning announced that more than 2.36 million passengers went through U.S. airports on Sunday, March 20, the highest number of fliers during the two-year pandemic era.

The number of passengers was a whopping 93 percent of capacity on the same day flown in 2019, the bellwether year travel experts use to compare stats to a normal, pre-pandemic year.

On that day three years ago, 2,542,643 passengers went through U.S. airports.

Sunday’s total of 2,366,751 air travelers easily bested the same day total on March 20, 2021, when 1,543,136 people flew.

In addition, Sunday was the fourth consecutive day of 2 million or more daily fliers and the 12th time in the last 18 days the TSA has screened more than 2 million.

Credit the kids.

The surge was fueled by an anxious, youthful group of spring breakers whose pent-up demand is likely more off the charts than other generations – at the moment.

The big increase in air travel is setting the stage for all tourists to get out and about again in what airline executives believe will be a robust summer travel season.