Taking To The Skies This Holiday Week, You Are Not The Only One
by Heather Cassell
Holiday travel is getting started with a bang. Thursday was the busiest travel day of the holiday season, according to the United States Federal Aviation Administration.
An estimated 40% of Americans plan to travel for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, according to a NerdWallet survey conducted by The Harris Poll. Starting Wednesday, the FAA forecasts travel to jump up by 16% daily from 2022. Airlines for America, a US-based airline trade group, expects more than 39 million passengers to flood airports, and board airplanes during the holidays between December 20 and January 2, 2024, reported Reuters. That means the TSA anticipates 2.5 million passengers to flow through US TSA gates, up 6% from last year, reported Travel and Leisure.
According to TSA’s November release, TSA has recorded multiple days with more than 2.8 million passengers screened so far in 2023. June 30 saw the highest number of travelers pass through security in TSA history with nearly 2.9 million passengers screened by Transportation Security Officers at checkpoints nationwide.
The magazine reported TSA forecasts the busiest travel days to be December 21; Friday, December 29; and Monday, January 1, 2024.
“We are ready for the anticipated volumes and are working closely with our airline and airport partners to make sure we are prepared for this busy holiday travel season,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a November 13 press release from the agency.
Reuters reported that airlines and airports across the US and Canada have beefed up staff and upgraded equipment to avoid last year’s congestion, in some cases. Not to be reminded of last year’s massive Southwest Airlines meltdown, which stranded more than 2 million travelers, and led to the airline agreeing to pay a $140 million penalty and institute new rules earlier this week, the US Department of Transportation announced. A4A told the media outlet US passenger airlines have the largest workforce in the last two decades. Canada also enlarged its airport staffing, expanded de-icing, and added new advanced snowplow equipment at its largest airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority told Reuters. The airport also experienced navigating challenging congestion during peak travel periods that led to hard limits on flights last year.
However, winter storms across the US threaten to foil all that preparation and cause frustration with canceled and delayed flights.
So far this year, airlines have canceled 1.2% of U.S. flights, down nearly half from 2.1% over the same period last year. Cancellations were well below 1% during Thanksgiving, according to flight-tracking platform FlightAware, reported The Associated Press.
FlightAware reported December 21, there were 4,299 total delays within, into, or out of the US out of 27,961 worldwide. There were 107 cancelations within, into, or out of the US out of 1,755 worldwide.
“I don’t want to jinx us, but so far 2023 has seen the lowest cancellation rate in the last five years,” DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg told the AP Tuesday. He added, however, that winter weather “will certainly be a challenge in the next few weeks.”
United Airlines, which ranked #4 by AirAdvisor as one of the best airlines in the US isn’t worried about the weather or operational interruptions, a spokesperson told Reuters. The airline expects to have its busiest-ever, end-of-year holiday travel season carrying around 9 million passengers.
Still with all this travel, globally air travel has not fully recovered from the pandemic. Montreal-based airports trade group Airports Council International reported that about 8.6 billion people are projected to travel through the world’s airports in 2023, reported the AP. That’s about 94% of the passenger volume in 2019, before the COVID-19 hit.
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