Holiday Weekend Spurs Air Travel

As expected, a holiday weekend coupled with thousands of elementary, middle and high schools out for spring break, contributed to a huge volume of fliers as the number of passengers inched tantalizingly close to pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported that more than 8.7 million people passed through security checkpoints at U.S. airports from Thursday, April 14 to Sunday, April 17.

That was a whopping 93 percent of the capacity that flew during the same four-day period three years ago in 2019. To be fair, it was not only Easter this past weekend but also Passover. Easter Sunday in 2019 was April 21.

Nonetheless, it was an encouraging wrap-up to the spring travel season that also included college spring break during the month of March. And the delays and cancellations that have plagued U.S. carriers in recent weeks were at a minimum during the holiday weekend.

The number of fliers on Thursday, April 14, was 2,337,501 and was the third-biggest day of the pandemic era. The 2.451 million who flew on November 28, 2021 during Thanksgiving and the 2.366 million who passed through security on March 20 earlier this year at the height of spring break.

The total on Thursday the 14th was 89 percent of the capacity on the same day in 2019. Friday, April 15, saw 2,311,092 was 94 percent of what it was in 2019. Saturday the 16th was 1,894,331, or 95 percent of the same day three years ago. And Sunday, April 17 had 2,214,419 passengers take to the air, or 94 percent of the total that flew on the same day in 2019.