Atlanta

Traveling this weekend? Nearly 2M passengers to travel through Atlanta airport

ATLANTA — Long lines snaked through the terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Friday, the busiest day for Memorial Day weekend travel.

Security lines for the main checkpoint stretched through the domestic terminal atrium and began extending into baggage claim by 7:30 a.m.

By 1 p.m., Channel 2's Dave Huddleston confirmed Friday had already become the second-busiest day in Hartsfield-Jackson history. Airport general manager John Selden said he is predicting a record 96,000 passengers.

"This is our busiest travel day without it being a Super Bowl," Selden said.

The Monday after the 2019 Super Bowl was the busiest travel day with 104,000 passengers.

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Over the full Memorial Day travel period from Thursday to Tuesday, nearly 2 million passengers are expected to pass through the airport, according to the official Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Twitter account.

Airport officials encourage travelers to arrive at the airport two to three hours ahead of time.

"There is probably around 10 to 5 percent of the people who are getting here late. They don't arrive on time, and it's a difficult situation, and we try to do everything we can to help them," Selden said.

Selden said they have been in contact with several airlines and are expecting Monday to be another busy day at the airport.

"Monday we're going to have in the high 80 thousands trying to get through our checkpoint, plus we'll have a bunch of arrivals coming back so Monday will be busy and Tuesday morning will be very busy," Selden said.

Most flights should leave on time with no weather problems expected for Atlanta, but there could be problems in the Midwest.

Kelly Yamanouchi with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this article.