Friday’s pre-holiday trip breaks record for most air travelers screened at US airports | KTAB

Travelers transit through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport ahead of Memorial Day, Friday, May 24, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

ATLANTA (AP) — A record was broken ahead of Memorial Day weekend for the number of air travelers screened at U.S. airports, the Transportation Security Administration announced Saturday.

More than 2.9 million travelers were screened at U.S. airports on Friday, surpassing the previous record set last year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, according to the Transportation Security Agency.

“Agents set a new record for the highest number of travelers screened in a single day! » » tweeted the TSA. “We recommend arriving early. »

The third busiest day on record was Thursday, when just under 2.9 million travelers were screened at U.S. airports.

In Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport had its busiest day ever. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport broke a traffic record Thursday when 111,000 passengers, airline crew members and airport employees were screened at security checkpoints. The second busiest day followed Friday, when 109,960 people were screened, according to the TSA.

With 104.6 million passengers, Atlanta’s airport was the busiest in the world last year, according to the Airports Council International.

U.S. airlines expect to carry record numbers of passengers this summer. Their trade group estimates 271 million travelers will fly between June 1 and Aug. 31, breaking the record of 255 million set last summer.

AAA predicted it would be the busiest early summer weekend in nearly 20 years, with 43.8 million people expected to travel at least 50 miles from home between Thursday and Monday, including 38 million in vehicle.

The annual expression of wanderlust that accompanies the start of the summer travel season comes at a time when Americans are telling pollsters they are worried about the economy and the direction of the country.

Long celebrated on May 30 in honor of America’s fallen soldiers, Memorial Day officially became a federal holiday in 1971, observed on the last Monday in May.

Jason Redman, a retired Navy SEAL who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, told The Associated Press last year that he was honoring the friends he had lost. Thirty names are tattooed on his arm “for every man I have personally known who has died.”