TSA Screens New Post-Pandemic Passenger Record

Mark it down – Sunday, June 20.

That’s when another post-pandemic record number of air travelers went through the screening process, the Transportation Security Administration reported today.

To be exact, 2,100,761 fliers went through security checkpoints at airports across the country.

It’s the first time the TSA has screened that many passengers since 2,119,867 passed through checkpoints on March 7, 2020. Airline traffic began dropping precipitously after that as the pandemic began to rage through the U.S. Just nine days later, the TSA screened less than 1 million passengers, beginning an unprecedented streak that didn’t end until 1,031,505 people flew on Oct. 18, 2020.

Sunday was only the fifth time in the last 15 months that the TSA screened 2 million or more passengers, and all five instances have come in the last 10 days as travel has rebounded greatly – triggered by the traditional Memorial Day Weekend and the onset of summer vacations.

Still, the 2.1 million from Sunday was off 23 percent from 2019 numbers for the same date, when 2,719,643 people took to the air.