May 30, 2023 - Economy

Memorial Day weekend air travel surges past pre-pandemic levels

Ivana Saric

Travelers wait to go through security at San Francisco International Airport on May 25. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Nearly 9.8 million people nationwide passed through airport security over the Memorial Day long weekend, the Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday.

Why it matters: The four-day figure is roughly 300,000 higher than the number for the same holiday weekend in 2019, per the TSA.

Air travel on Friday hit a post-pandemic single-day record, with around 2.74 million travelers screened, the agency added.

The big picture: The robust air travel numbers were in line with projections that Memorial Day weekend would mark a travel boom and reach pre-pandemic levels, Axios' Sareen Habeshian writes.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned last week that the holiday would “test the system” for airlines.

Go deeper: Brace yourself for a summer of air travel hell

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Memorial Day weekend air travel surges past pre-pandemic levels

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