Airlines looking at a record summer
If the airport feels a little more crowded this summer, it’s not your imagination.
Airlines are expecting the busiest summer in the history of U.S. air travel, estimating that 246.1 million passengers will fly with U.S. airlines between June 1 and Aug. 31, 2018. That averages to about 2.68 million passengers a day during the period, according to the summer forecast issued Wednesday by Airlines for America (A4A).
The group pointed to a strong economy and “historically low airfares” for helping fuel what’s expected to be a record summer for travel.
The summer passenger numbers forecast by A4A would be a 3.7% increase from the total last year, when a then-record 237.3 million travelers flew on U.S. airlines during the same period. Collectively, A4A says U.S. airlines have added 116,000 seats to their summer schedules in anticipation of the 2018 spike in passengers.
The Transportation Security Administration is preparing for some of the busiest travel days it has ever seen. The TSA typically screens 2.2 million to 2.3 million passengers a day, but it expects 2.7 million around Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day.
In an effort to cut down on handsearching of carry-on bags, the TSA is asking travelers to remove more objects than just larger electronics, sometimes including snacks.