The Sunday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States drove the number of passengers boarding through the country’s airports to record levels.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), responsible for conducting security checks before flight boarding, reported that on December 1, they screened 3,087,392 passengers, 73,000 more than the previous record day, which had been on July 7.

In total, during the entire Thanksgiving travel period, spanning from November 26 to December 2, the TSA screened a total of 18.07 million passengers at U.S. airports, a figure 4.59% higher than in 2023.

 

Overall, air traffic in the United States experienced no major disruptions during the holiday week. According to information collected by AP from FlightAware, airlines canceled around 120 flights, a figure considered typical, and approximately 6,800 flights were delayed, primarily at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson and Chicago O’Hare airports.

The record-breaking figures from Sunday highlight a dramatic recovery for aviation after the worst moments of the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 14, 2020, the TSA screened only 87,534 passengers due to the pandemic’s impact. It took over a year, until July 2, 2021, for the number of passengers screened at TSA airport checkpoints to surpass pre-pandemic levels.