by Donald Wood
Last updated: 10:18 AM ET, Wed October 14, 2020
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened 984,354 passengers at airports on October 11, marking the highest number since April 14.
The nearly one-million travelers marks the fifth time in October that TSA agents screened more than 900,000 passengers in a day and is a stark difference from the 87,534 travelers that passed through security on April 14.
While the traveler numbers have improved since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, they are still down from the 2.55 million people screened on the same day in 2019.
The increase in travelers passing through airports across the U.S. comes less than a month after the TSA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) invited new airports to participate in the Preclearance program for the first time since 2016.
To be eligible for the Preclearance program, foreign international airports must host operations to the U.S., have a suitable facility for processing and be prepared to share costs with the U.S. Government to be eligible for the program.
TSA officials need to be prepared for more and more travelers taking to the skies, as a recent study from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) revealed that 99 percent of U.S. and Canadian travelers are "eager to travel again."
Even more encouraging for the travel industry is that 70 percent of respondents stated that they plan to take a holiday in 2021, according to a Travel Leaders Group survey conducted in conjunction with the WTTC.
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