The United States screened a record 3.13 million air passengers on Sunday (Monday AEDT) as travellers returned from Thanksgiving trips.
The previous record was set on 22 June with 3.10 million passengers, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). It had expected to screen at least 3 million passengers, the agency said ahead of the holiday.
“Yesterday, TSA screened about 3,133,924 individuals, the highest number ever in TSA's history, bringing our Top 10 busiest days all above 3 [million],” TSA wrote.
The record comes despite more than 1,000 flights being cancelled and over 13,000 flights being delayed on Sunday due to poor weather.
All of TSA’s top 10 busiest travel days by passengers screened were in 2025 or 2024, including eight days in 2025.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has projected there will be more than 360,000 flights across the nine days to 2 December, with 51,268 flights on Sunday.
A total of 81.8 million people will have travelled at least 50 miles during the Thanksgiving holiday period from 25 November to 1 December, AAA estimated.
Flight reductions applied during the U.S. 43-day government shutdown ended on 17 November after a new government funding bill was passed.
More than half of surveyed Americans plan to travel between Thanksgiving and early January, a five-year high, according to a November Deloitte report. The average number of trips has fallen to 1.83 trips this season, compared with 2.14 in the same period of 2024.
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