Air travel — and Atlanta's airport — is busier than ever
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What initially seemed like a release of pent-up demand for air travel immediately following the worst of COVID-19 now looks like a never-ending climb.
Driving the news: Record numbers of travelers are taking to the skies this year, according to the latest TSA data.
- If 2025 is anything like 2024, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will again lead the country (and the world) in linking the Southeast and the world.
By the numbers: ATL handled 802,423 flights in 2024, handing the airport the U.S. heavyweight championship for the fifth year in a row.
- Chicago O'Hare and Dallas Fort Worth international airports followed with 776,854 and 750,167 operations, respectively.
What's next: Delta, which controls the largest number of gates at ATL, plans to roll out its "largest-ever" summer schedule from the airport this year, with roughly 75 additional flights.
- New international routes include Brussels and Naples and more flights to Rome, Zurich, Barcelona, Athens, Cancun, Toronto, Barbados and Curacao.
- The airline is also adding 20% more seats to Georgia destinations including Savannah and Brunswick.
Thomas' thought bubble: Every other time I pass through Hartsfield-Jackson I think of the Futurama episode where the characters visit the Lost City of Atlanta.
- Fry, a delivery boy who emerges from a cryogenic slumber 1,000 years in the future, said he thought the city was long ago "just an airport. They had a place where you could buy nuts."
Zoom out: Nearly 3.1 million people passed through U.S. airport security checkpoints on Dec. 1 (the Sunday after Thanksgiving) — an all-time agency high for that period.
- 2024's numbers have consistently been above those of 2023, just as 2023's figures were above those of 2022, and so on.
Between the lines: This huge demand is partly why aviation leaders like United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby have been calling for more air traffic controllers and other improvements.
The bottom line: If your flights seem particularly jam-packed lately, well, you're not wrong.