US airports hit new Thanksgiving records — without the expected chaos
More flights than ever have taken off in the US this Thanksgiving week.
Air travel in the US has shattered previous records for Thanksgiving — while maintaining unprecedented reliability.
From Sunday, November 24, to Thanksgiving Day, the Federal Aviation Administration documented 232,000 flights across the US – the highest number ever recorded during Thanksgiving week.
This week has already broken several records: roughly 2.7 million passengers passed through TSA each day on Tuesday and Wednesday, setting a record for a Tuesday before Thanksgiving. About 1.6 million passengers passed through on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Industry group Airlines for America estimates that more than 3 million passengers will fly in the US on Sunday. If reached, this would surpass last year’s record of 2.9 million passengers screened on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
So far, Thanksgiving air travel has also never been less chaotic — 0.3% of flights have been canceled and 1.2% have been impacted by delays — fewer than ever this time of year, according to the FAA.
That could change for those flying in and out of the Northeast. Parts of New England may be covered in snow by Friday morning, while a predicted lake-effect storm from Cleveland to Buffalo, New York, could bring five feet of snow this weekend and into next week.
