TSA Screens Pandemic Record Number of Travelers Ahead of Christmas

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened nearly 1.2 million passengers at airport checkpoints across the country on Wednesday, the most since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared and widespread shutdowns began in mid-March.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security agency, 1,191,123 travelers took to the skies on December 23, which marked the fourth time over the past week that total traveler throughput exceeded 1 million. The pandemic-era record comes on the heels of advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health experts that Americans stay home this holiday season to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Although the highest since March 16, Wednesday’s figure was still down 38 percent from the same weekday a year ago (Christmas Day 2019) when TSA screened 1,937,235 passengers. Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, TSA was screening about 2.1 to 2.2 million travelers on an average weekday.

While more than 6 million travelers have passed through airport security checkpoints nationwide since December 18, the same period last year saw more than twice that amount. That’s to say that passenger traffic still has a long way to go before it returns to pre-pandemic marks.

Last month’s Thanksgiving travel period—which also saw millions of passengers fly for the holiday—produced the previous pandemic-era record of 1,176,091 on November 29.

The nation’s airports are more crowded than they’ve been in months but so are the roads as a majority of the tens of millions of Americans who will travel this holiday will embark on a road trip. According to a recent study by Cars.com, two-thirds of travelers (66 percent) plan to drive to their destinations during the winter holiday period.