By Enyichukwu Enemanna
No fewer than 2.95 million U.S airline passengers were screened on Friday, the highest number ever recorded on a single day, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced on Saturday.
The surge in number of passengers coincides with the Memorial Day weekend, which marks the beginning of the summer travel season in the country.
Friday’s travel broke a record of nearly 2.91 million passengers set in November, TSA stated.
Beginning of May 16 recorded the five out of ten busiest travel days, the agency noted.
Airlines said U.S carriers plan to fly over 26,000 daily flights this summer, an increase of nearly 1,400 from that of 2023 when they carried 255 million passengers.
The summer travel season forecast is for June 1 to Aug. 31.
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An airline company, the American Airlines said it will increase flights by 10% this summer, expecting 10% higher passengers over the May 23-May 28 Memorial Day travel period.
This implies nearly 3.9 million passengers on 36,000 flights.
On its hand, United Airlines is forecasting it will handle 3 million travelers during the Memorial Day travel period, an increase of 10% and its highest number ever during the period.
Also, Delta Air Lines said it expects a 5% rise in Memorial Day weekend customers to nearly 3 million customers between May 23-27.
The forecast comes as the Federal Aviation Administration is struggling to address a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers.
Some airlines voluntarily cut the number of New York flights last summer to address congestion issues and have raised new concerns about the lack of controllers.
