Record number of travelers screened at US airports ahead of Memorial Day weekend

The Transportation Security Administration said Saturday that a record set on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2023 has been broken by travelers leading up to the Memorial Day weekend.

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“Officers have set a new record for most travelers screened in a single day!” TSA said on X, formerly known as Twitter, according to The Associated Press.

“On Friday, May 24, 2,951,163 individuals were screened at checkpoints nationwide, surpassing the previous record on Nov. 26, 2023,” TSA said.

Thursday marked the third busiest travel day record with a little less than 2.9 million travelers screened, the AP reported.

“If you flew yesterday, congratulations, you were part of a record-setting day!” said Lisa Farbstein, a spokesperson for the TSA, in another post on X, according to CBS News. Farbstein said that travel on May 24th set the record of the 22-year history of TSA.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport saw its busiest day ever Thursday with 111,000 passengers, airport crews and employees that were screened, the AP reported. The following day, it had about 109,960 people screened. That airport is one of the busiest in the world and saw about 104.6 million passengers alone last year, Airports Council International said.

AAA projects around 43.8 million people will travel 50 miles or more from their homes over the Memorial Day weekend holiday.

The number of projected travelers this year is up about 4% from last year, according to AAA. It is a close match to the record set in 2005 of 44 million people who traveled Memorial Day weekend.

AAA is projecting a 5% increase over last year in airline travel, CBS News reported.

United Airlines is reportedly planning to have around half a million people flying between May 23 and May 28. Delta Airlines is expecting about three million and American Airlines is expecting about 3.9 million, CBS News reported.

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