US sees largest post-Covid holiday weekend with 10 million at airports

Robert Besser
04 Jun 2023, 01:43 GMT+10

A TSA report released this week revealed that over the Memorial Day weekend, holiday air passenger travel in the country exceeded 2019 pre-COVID levels
The agency said that over the four-day weekend, some 9.8 million passengers were screened or passed though security checks, some 300,000 more than over the same holiday period in 2019
The FAA said just 0.6 percent of holiday travel period flights were canceled, versus 2.3 percent in 2022 and 1.4 percent in 2019

WASHINGTON D.C.: A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) report released this week revealed that over the Memorial Day weekend, the start of the busy US summer air travel season, holiday air passenger travel in the country exceeded 2019 pre-COVID levels.

The agency said that over the four-day weekend, some 9.8 million passengers were screened or passed though security checks, some 300,000 more than over the same holiday period in 2019.

During the Memorial Day period, Federal Aviation Administration, airlines and flight tracking websites reported few travel issues and significant improvements over 2022.

The FAA said just 0.6 percent of holiday travel period flights were canceled, versus 2.3 percent in 2022 and 1.4 percent in 2019.

Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted, "Low levels of delays and cancellations over the holiday weekend are evidence that sector-wide collaboration to improve airline reliability is on the right track."

The TSA said it screened 2.74 million passengers on May 26, the highest number in a single day since November 2019, adding that May 26's traffic exceeded the recent high set one day earlier and the entire weekend, which surpassed pre-COVID traffic levels.

May 25 witnessed the highest post-COVID daily traffic in the US with 54,684 flights, the FAA said.

According to Industry group Airlines for America, in the June-August quarter, a record 256.8 million passengers will travel on flights, up 1 percent over the 254.6 million passengers in the same period in 2019.