Airlines Have Biggest Travel Day of Pandemic Era

Oh, it’s on.

The travel surge that airlines were hoping for – and in many ways were expecting – is on.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) this morning announced that more than 2.36 million passengers went through U.S. airports on Sunday, March 20, the highest number of fliers during the two-year pandemic era.

JUST IN: @TSA officers screened 2,366,751 people at airport security checkpoints across the country yesterday, Sunday, March 20.

— Lisa Farbstein, TSA Spokesperson (@TSA_Northeast) March 21, 2022

The number of passengers was a whopping 93 percent of capacity on the same day flown in 2019, the bellwether year travel experts use to compare stats to a normal, pre-pandemic year.

On that day three years ago, 2,542,643 passengers went through U.S. airports.

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Sunday’s total of 2,366,751 air travelers easily bested the same day total on March 20, 2021, when 1,543,136 people flew.

In addition, Sunday was the fourth consecutive day of 2 million or more daily fliers and the 12th time in the last 18 days the TSA has screened more than 2 million.

Credit the kids.

The surge was fueled by an anxious, youthful group of spring breakers whose pent-up demand is likely more off the charts than other generations – at the moment.

The big increase in air travel is setting the stage for all tourists to get out and about again in what airline executives believe will be a robust summer travel season.