The Thanksgiving period broke air travel records in the United States this year, with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening around 3.1 million travellers on Sunday.
In 2023, 2.2 million travellers were screened on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
“We’ve seen all of our busiest travel days occur just this calendar year, and things aren’t going to slow down as we head into December holidays,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske.
The TSA estimated ahead of the holiday that it would screen over 3 million travellers on Sunday, surpassing the year’s earlier record.
The year’s busiest travel day before the Thanksgiving period was on July 7, following the 4th of July holiday. The TSA screened just over 3 million passengers on that day.
0.3% of flights were cancelled over the Thanksgiving period, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
1.2% of flights were delayed, with the largest numbers of delays at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.
American Airlines said it expects to have carried around 8.3 million passengers from November 21 to December 3.
71 million Americans were also expected to travel by car over the Thanksgiving period, according to the American Automobile Association.